No team makes it through the international break without an an injury, and Chelsea are no exception.
Fortunately, in this case, it’s the backup goalkeeper who has picked up a problem – probably a best case scenario in the circumstances.
Filip Jorgensen was playing for Denmark’s U21 team in their 5-0 win against Czechia when he picked up the injury. There is basically no information about how bad the problem is yet – just a quote from the coach:
“He’s being checked. I don’t know how bad it went, but it was certainly [bad] enough for him to go off. I just asked if he was OK. He was annoyed, but hopefully it is not something that is really wrong.”
It doesn’t sound terrible – but it’s potentially not great either.
Jorgensen arrived in the summer for €24.5m from Villareal, but has had to settle for a place on the bench in our league games. He featured in preseason and in our European adventures so far, and long term looks like he’s going to challenge for the first choice position.
The Blues' backup goalkeeper Filip Jørgensen is a doubt for this weekend's trip to Bournemouth after suffering an unspecified injury while on international duty with #DEN Under-21s.
'He’s being checked,' said Steffen Hojer after the 5-0 win over Czechia. 'I don’t know…
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) September 12, 2024
A blow to goalkeeper’s progress – or a bizarre positive?
Of course, Jorgensen wouldn’t have been expected to play tomorrow anyway, so it’s not a huge blow for the team. But long term, he’s expected to compete with Sanchez and if it stops him playing in the upcoming Carabao Cup and UEFA Europa Conference League games against Barrow and Gent, it will certainly be considered a major blow in his attempts to try and unseat the Spaniard.
On the other hand, what is especially true with keepers is that they tend to play their way out of a team as much as into a team. So perhaps letting Sanchez have a long run in the team where he has the potential to make mistakes is actually, in some bizarre way, a good thing for Jorgensen.