Our Chelsea fans here in the Transfer Tavern are seemingly in for a tough summer with the latest transfer rumours flying around about their goalkeeper. Indeed, the man currently occupying the role between the sticks doesn’t truly seem settled. 

That’s because the proverbial rumour mill has been in full flow ever since Thibaut Courtois announced in an interview that his heart is in Madrid with his family. At that point, many of the Blues in our bar thought a summer move to the Bernabeu is nailed on, which would please the Red Devils in the other end of the pub.

If Antonio Conte is still at the club come the summer then he will have a tough job replacing the Belgian ‘keeper with someone of similar ilk. They are many goalkeepers around Europe who would jump at the chance of a move to Stamford Bridge, but if they are good enough is another question entirely.

However, our faithful landlord has come up with a two-man shortlist of potential goalkeepers to replaces the possibly departing Belgian…

Jiri Pavlenka

The Werder Bremen ‘keeper stands at way over six foot tall and is a presence in his area, that’s for sure. Although catching crosses is not one of his strong points, so he often likes to punch out instead, though that’s something that can be worked on for sure. Still, despite that, he is a fantastic shot-stopper and his reflexes are second to none, so Chelsea could do a lot worse.

At 25, he could be a keeper for many years to come, and the Czech Republic custodian would relish following in the great Petr Cech footsteps by moving to Chelsea.

Thomas Strakosha

At 22, Thomas Strakosha is a mainstay in the Lazio nets so far this season. He has brilliant concentration levels and often prefers to go for the long pass upfield over the shorter simpler option to start an attack from the back, helping Chelsea hit teams on the counter.

Strakosha isn’t as tall as Pavlenka but many of the regulars feel that with age on his side, the Albanian could turn out to be a world-class keeper for the Blues.