Edouard Mendy, like Kai Havertz, and to some extent Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, Thiago Silva and Ben Chilwell, is now working under his third Chelsea manager despite joining the club in the summer of 2020.
He was pioneered by Petr Cech's recommendation and esteemed goalkeeping coach Christophe Lollichon, those two have also left the corridors at Stamford Bridge one way or another. Frank Lampard, surplus to say, is also not at Chelsea anymore, neither is the lady that will have most likely prepared the contract and negotiated a remarkable price for Mendy, Marina Granovskaia.
It's fine because the manager who helped the Senegal stopper to win the Champions League is still...wait, no. It's now Graham Potter. His own goalkeeping exploits with Robert Sanchez are impressive, but Mendy is only just getting over Lampard leaving, let alone the other key influences around him.
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Now he's faced with a tough task. As Shakespeare said, "to sign a new deal or not to sign a new deal, that is the question." Or was that Franklin D. Roosevelt? Ultimately it doesn't matter. If Chelsea make Mendy feel valued, literally valued, as in offering him money worthy of an elite-level number one rather than less than Ross Barkley, then there will be no issue here. He will sign. But does Potter want that?
The new coach made Sanchez tick on the south coast due to his ball-playing, which Mendy is more awkward with. Maybe it's just overreacting to the 30-year-old's first patch of poor form, but if Kepa Arrizabalaga is actually going to be favoured then maybe looking elsewhere for Mendy is not as strange as it seems.
With the reports that Jordan Pickford is being looked at as an option for Chelsea who do need at least one new keeper soon, Mendy may well feel a bit unsure. As reported by transfer expert Simon Phillips, the club are aware of the uncertain and unstable futures for their two first team keepers. Kepa wanted to go this summer in a list ditch attempt to not only get consistent football but also to reignite unlikely World Cup ambitions, while Mendy is approaching a sensitive age for Chelsea to offer a long-term deal and doesn't have the bargaining power he had earlier this year due to his dip in form.
There is no immediate worry, but there is an immediate decision to be made. With Kepa set to play against Crystal Palace, Mendy remaining sidelined with injury, Potter will be forced to choose allegiances soon, and the longer that Chelsea try to balance their two keepers the tougher it gets.
Mendy's current deal expires in 2025 but Todd Boehly, who is running a quick-fire restructure of the wage bill at Chelsea, is keen to tie-down the top performers and, other than recent performances, Mendy has been one of them. Kepa on the other hand cost £71m and is tougher to shift. He is amongst the top earners due to his status as a promising long-term keeper when he joined in 2018 and is waiting for interest that Chelsea may accept.
Previously, Granovskaia had been reluctant to take a big monetary loss on the Spanish keeper but now, with it now being Boehly's purchase, moving Kepa on a cut-price deal may well be a more achievable compromise.
Pickford himself is also injured but has been in good form for Everton under Lampard this season and will likely be England's No.1 for the World Cup. The Metro have reported previously that Manchester United would also be keen on signing Pickford after letting Dean Henderson leave the club and David De Gea's form continuing a general downward trend.
Gabriel Slonina joined in the summer but at 18-years-old he is extremely unlikely to get much of a look in at this stage of his career and Potter may well bring his own targets with him for a foundation to build from at the back. For now Chelsea don't have much of a choice to make, Kepa will be playing, but as soon as Mendy returns, and if he shunts his teammate aside to reclaim the gloves, then Todd Boehly may well be tuning in to watch some of Pickford at the World Cup to see what all the fuss is about.
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