Senegalese Édouard Mendy will keep Chelsea's goal
Senegalese Édouard Mendy.
Reuters / Lee Smith / File Photo
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
3 min
Senegalese Édouard Mendy signed a 5-season contract with English club Chelsea on September 24, 2020. At the age of 28, the goalkeeper leaves Stade Rennes and France to play in a very high-level team and championship .
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At 28, a goaltender begins to mature.
It is at this age that Édouard Mendy will take the leap to the very high level.
The Senegalese indeed leaves France where he was born, was trained and where he progressed among professionals from 2016 to 2020, to go play in the English Championship (Premier League).
After Cherbourg, Marseille, Reims and Rennes, the goalkeeper is thus engaged with Chelsea.
This September 24, 2020, he signed a contract with the London formation for the next five seasons.
“
I am so excited to join Chelsea
, reacted the person concerned on the site of the club.
It is a dream for me to be part of this exceptional team and to work with (his coach) Frank Lampard and his entire management team.
I can't wait to meet my teammates and I can't wait to start
”.
In the footsteps of Petr Cech
By leaving Stade Rennes for the “Blues”, Édouard Mendy imitates one of his illustrious predecessors, Petr Cech.
The latter, who kept the Chelsea cage from 2004-2015 after that of Rennes from 2002-2004, is a legend in the Premier League where he also played at Arsenal (2015-2019).
The Czech, who joined the Chelsea staff, is also no stranger to the arrival of the young African.
“
As soon as Petr Cech and our technical team identified Edouard as the most suitable goalkeeper to complement our existing squad, there was only one player we wanted to integrate,
” explained the Chelsea manager, Marina Granovskaia.
In the heart of the matter
Édouard Mendy could in any case quickly have responsibilities.
None of the three goalkeepers present in the current squad seems to have won at the start of the 2020-2021 season.
Whether it is the very experienced Argentinian Willy Caballero (38), the very young Englishman Nathan Baxter (21) and especially the Spaniard Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The Basque, disembarked from Atletic Bilbao in 2018 against the astronomical sum of 80 million euros, is currently a fiasco.
Édouard Mendy, author of a very solid 2019-2020 season, will no doubt have to learn very quickly, at the upper echelon.
Whether in the Premier League or the Champions League, a competition that he could also have discovered this year with Rennes.
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