GOALKEEPERS have been a big talking point at Chelsea this season with boss Enzo Maresca unsure who is his definite number one.
Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen have been in and out like the Hokey Cokey.
And that’s something that won’t trouble incoming keeper Mike Penders, who just loves a singalong and a party.
The teenager is due to join up with the Blues this summer following a £16.7million deal with his current side Genk in the Belgian top flight.
Still only 19, colourful Penders loves a party and says it stems from his upbringing in the town of Uikhoven in a region famous for its carnivals.
Penders said: “Singalongs are my thing.
“It’s simple: if you come from our neighbourhood, you grow up with carnival. Then you learn those songs by heart.
“You just have to come and experience it. The last time I went I wore Lederhosen.”
England skipper Harry Kane also wears the famous leather trousers when he visits Oktoberfest each year as he plays for Bayern Munich.
Penders has all the ingredients to become an even bigger star than Thibaut Courtois at Chelsea – even without his ability to sing a song at his first-team initiation.
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For a start, the towering keeper is exactly two metres tall – one centimetre more than his famous Belgian predecessor.
He is coming through the same famous stable at Genk like Courtois and if the next few weeks go well for him, he could also rock up at Stamford Bridge as a decorated star.
Genk are top of the table and face the ten-game play-offs bidding for the championship.
Penders has every chance to make the biggest move of his career with a league title to his name.
He is already a famous name at home. His transfer fee to Chelsea is considered huge back home for a player so young.
Some of that money was spread among the clubs of his previous career – right down to sixth-tier Bregel Sport.
The 100,000 euros was enough to keep the struggling club afloat – but only temporarily as they went broke just last week.
HELD ON BY GAFFER TAPE
JOHN TERRY fears his ambition to become a manager is drifting away.
Chelsea’s most successful player and captain still hopes his dream of being head coach at the club which is in his heart may still come off one day. But he is caught in a vicious circle.
He came painfully close in September 2023 when he was offered a job by Saudi Pro-League side Al-Shabbab… only for the deal to collapse at the last minute.
Terry, 44, said: “I got very close with that and things got moved at the last minute, which meant it didn’t go through.
“I’ve done my badges. I’m ready. If the right opportunity comes up, and it has to be the right opportunity in terms of squad, location, I’m all ears.
“I’m watching every game of football I can possibly watch. I’ve still got my eyes in it. There will come a point for me when I need to say ‘that’s it’.
“But you have to be obsessed with it and I’m still obsessed with it. I’m analysing games, I’m reviewing stuff, I’m doing online courses and all of that to be a better coach or a better manager that I can be.
“So who knows if that opportunity comes along? I’ve got a lot to give. I know that I’ve managed dressing rooms and groups before.”
Terry has found work as a coach at Aston Villa and Leicester and is back now working two days a week at his beloved Chelsea.
The five-time Premier League winner said: “I led Chelsea for 22 years. So to get thrown at me that I’ve got no experience as a number one is a little bit baffling.
“But again I’ll keep trying until that kind of day stops because I have a dream of managing Chelsea one day and that’s the ultimate for me. Would I love to be part of it? Of course I would. Chelsea’s my club.”
TOUT OF ORDER
CHELSEA are going digital with ticket buying and going on the offensive against the touts.
Illegal sales are a menace and no home game at Stamford Bridge is complete without a gaggle of shady characters loitering outside Fulham Broadway tube station offering seats at premium price.
The club is trying to combat this and have highlighted their efforts in an email to fans detailing the work they have undertaken.
This season alone it includes:
- Stopping more than 1,000 people coming into the ground with touted tickets.
- Cancelling more than 1,500 membership accounts linked to illegal activity.
- Arresting individuals following police operations on matchdays.
This is all worthwhile stuff but in the meantime, Chelsea’s chairman Todd Boehly has attracted fierce criticism from fans over his stake in American ticket resale site Vivid Seats.
The unauthorised website sells tickets for Premier League games at vastly inflated prices.
Vividseats.com even appears on a blacklist of outlets issued by the Premier League who add: “We would urge fans to exercise extreme caution when dealing with these websites.”
GLOBAL GAME
CHELSEA became the first English club to field an entire team of foreign players against Southampton in the Premier League back in 1999.
And the Blues will continue to break new ground across the world when they add Kazakhstan’s teenage wonderkid Dastan Satpaev, 16, to their ranks next summer.
Satpaev’s arrival – when he turns 18 – will take the Prem’s number of nationalities to a staggering 127 since the league began in the 1992/93 season.
Eagle-eyed Chelsea fans will have spotted the Kairat Almaty striker, who has agreed a Stamford Bridge move in a £3.3m deal with a five-year contract, was in the UK last Saturday.
Satpaev came off the bench for the final 16 minutes of Kazakhstan’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying defeat to Wales in Cardiff.
He showed flashes of promise in his brief cameo as a substitute but is already being hailed as the best talent the country has ever produced.
No pressure, then.
TOP MARCS
IT’S A good time to be a Chelsea defender.
Club captain Reece James scored a screamer for England on Monday night against Latvia to add to his recent belter at Copenhagen in the Conference League.
And his club-mate Marc Cucurella is also in the goals this season with five – four in the Premier League and one in Europe.
Part of his increased strike rate has been down to boss Enzo Maresca pushing the Spaniard into a midfield role at times – the new ‘inverted full-back’ fad that is gripping football.
Cucurella has responded with two goals in seven games, which is a decent return for a left-back.
It has transformed his standing in the eyes of Chelsea fans who were unsure of his worth to start with but now sing songs about his big mop of curly hair in tribute to his improvement.
Cucurella says scoring more goals has been a big priority.
He said: “One of the things that I felt that I could improve upon was my ability in the last third – more goals and more assists. I would say this season I have had the opportunity to score a few goals.
“I’m very happy because I feel very good and I’ve been able to help the team.
“I always try to give the best for my team and I always try to leave everything on the pitch for my team. I always try to win.
“I think they are the best things I can have as a player. Now I’m even a goalscorer! Hopefully, I can score a lot more goals and I’m very happy.”
LONELY WITHOUT LEON
CHELSEA fans eagerly waiting to find out who will be the club’s first opponents in the Club World Cup should not hold their breath.
Fifa sources say that it will take some time to find a replacement for Club Leon – the Mexican side booted out of the competition over dual ownership issues.
The case is likely to go to appeal and even then if the decision is upheld, a new team will be sought from within the Concacaf football federation.
Considering there are 41 member associations throughout the Americas, that will take some sifting.
