Xabi Alonso takes on the role as Chelsea manager from the start of next month and the Spaniard is set to contend with plenty of transfer decisions when he begins work at Cobham
Xabi Alonso joins Chelsea in July(Image: Alex Grimm)
There is plenty of fascination around Chelsea at the moment – largely around what Xabi Alonso will chop and change within the squad he will inherit at the beginning of next month.
It is no secret that the Blues are expecting lots to change this summer in terms of the playing squad. BlueCo’s five-strong sporting leadership team will work collaboratively with new manager Alonso in the transfer window, that opens later this month, in order to build the Spaniard a competitive squad for his debut season at Stamford Bridge.
Not only are several first-team signings expected, but there are a flurry of players set to depart the club in the following months. That includes in the goalkeeping department.
At the club at the moment, before anyone is signed or leaves, Alonso has around £74million (combined transfer fees Chelsea paid, not including add-ons) worth of goalkeeping talent to choose from (that includes loanees returning). However, plenty of changes are expected to happen in the coming months.
With that being said, we take a look at the ‘dream’ set of goalkeeper options for Chelsea at the start of the 2026/27 season. This is the final part of a mini-series by football.london – here are the defence, midfield and attacking editions.
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What needs to be done
Let’s start with who is expected to depart the club before the beginning of the new season. Filip Jorgensen wanted an exit in the January transfer window, but Chelsea blocked any move as they didn’t want to sign a replacement midway through the 2025/26 campaign.
A few months on and from Jorgensen’s point of view, nothing has changed. The Danish goalkeeper is not getting the first-team minutes he craves and has informed the club, in a face-to-face meeting, that he wants to leave in the summer transfer window.
Chelsea are not expected to run into too many problems when it comes to selling Jorgensen and if they do manage to get the deal over the line, it will pave the way for Mike Penders to join Alonso’s squad. The young Belgian goalkeeper spent the 2025/26 season with Strasbourg on loan and massively impressed during his time in France.
Multiple senior officials at Chelsea believe Penders is ready to step up and challenge for the No.1 jersey at Stamford Bridge. football.london understands Alonso will give Penders the opportunity to prove his worth in the first-team environment and go head-to-head with Robert Sanchez next season.
Sanchez, for the most part, had a strong 25/26 season, so there is no immediate rush to move on from the Spaniard, especially with four years left to run on his existing contract in west London. Chelsea are hoping Penders will be able to learn off Sanchez, who is eight years his senior, in the 2026/27 campaign and create healthy competition for the former Brighton shot-stopper.
In most weeks, Teddy Sharman-Lowe finished the season off as Chelsea’s third-choice goalkeeper. As long as the 23-year-old ‘keeper is happy to do similar under Alonso, that could be the sensible option for the club. An academy goalkeeper, perhaps the U18s’ Freddy Bernal can also be an option.
Fellow academy shot-stoppers Max Merrick and Ted Curd should look for loan moves in order to continue their development. Elsewhere, Gabriel Slonina, who is yet to feature for the Blues’ first team since moving from Chicago Fire in August 2022, could be moved on for good this summer.
Goalkeeper options
Robert Sanchez
Mike Penders
Teddy Sharman-Lowe
Freddy Bernal (plus other academy goalkeepers)
Leaving the club
Filip Jorgensen
Gabriel Slonina
Max Merrick (loan)
Ted Curd (loan)
Get Chelsea’s new 2026/27 home kit
Chelsea have launched their new home kit for the 2026/27 season, said to be ‘a celebration of the club’s Italian Renaissance.