Chelsea announced the signing of goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen at almost midnight last night. That’s not their usual move, but in this case they had little choice – he was about to take part in an open training session, so the cat was really going to be out of the bag at that point.
After a whirlwind week which went from rumour to confirmed signing at speed, the Denmark youth international was whisked off to the United States to join the tour as soon as possible. The €24.5m signing from Villareal barely had time to change his watch before he was getting his boots on.
And, considering he’s a goalkeeper and this was just a training session… he made quite the impact in the one afternoon he had with the team.
Multiple journalists present, including Ben Jacobs and Kieran Gill of the Daily Mail, noted some great saves and some excellent distribution from the Dane in the open training. The kicking in particular is just what new coach Enzo Maresca wans from a goalkeeper.
Training finishes as Armageddon approaches from behind the tree line. Enzo Maresca very hands on, pressing his own players in drills. Plenty of individual instructions to Mykhailo Mudryk. A few great saves from Filip Jorgensen during shooting practice. Good session overall https://t.co/5b0JzgxEXe
— Kieran Gill (@kierangill_DM) July 31, 2024
Jorgensen already showcasing his creative distribution.🧤 pic.twitter.com/yEQDiQPE96
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) July 30, 2024
A unique chance to earn his place right away
The race is really on for the stopper to beat out the far more experienced Robert Sanchez to be number one. Under normal circumstances, with less than 3 weeks until our first league game, we’d say it was impossible for him to unseat the incumbent.
But the speed with which this deal was done means that Jorgensen could yet feature in the friendly tonight against Club America, and certainly against Man City this weekend.
He will have 4 further chances to play, and that’s more than enough opportunity to show the manager he’s ready to start in the Premier League. Let’s not forget – they wouldn’t have bought him if they were happy with Sanchez and thinking he was going to be able to step up. So the door is open for Jorgensen.
