Chelsea pursues £51 million Bundesliga goalkeeper

Chelsea is "strong in momentum" in the latest effort to recruit a new goalkeeper from the Bundesliga, according to a German report.

The Blues have lacked a stable goalkeeper position for many years, and it can be said that Kepa and Mendy have both proved to be short of it since Courtois left the club in 2018. Robert Sanchez hasn’t been particularly convincing since joining for £25 in 2023, sharing responsibilities with Joelger Petrovic last season and Phillip Jonson this season.

Petrovic and Kepa will both return to Stamford Bridge on loan from Strasbourg and Bournemouth respectively in a few weeks, while Gabriel Sloniner is still on the roster and Mike Penders has joined from Henk. Petrovic and Kepa may receive offers in the summer, but there is no guarantee that Chelsea has been flooded by goalkeepers and are still looking for another goalkeeper in the market.

According to Bistro, Chelsea is maintaining close contact with the representatives of Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kober, and a "poker game" has begun. The Swiss international is considered happy at Dortmund, but is also ready for the "next step" of his career.

It was revealed that the "potential transfer fee" is €60m (£51m), which would be a considerable expense for a goalkeeper, behind only Alisson (£67m) and Kepa (£72m). German journalist Christian Falke claimed that the cost was so high because Dortmund didn’t want to sell Kober, whose contract expires in 2028 and is confident that he can stay. It will be crucial whether Dortmund can qualify for the Champions League next season. Kober, who is keen on the tournament, reached the final last year and a lack of financial support for failure to qualify may force Dortmund to listen to the players’ offers. For now, Dortmund is one point behind fourth place Freiburg in the Bundesliga standings, with two games left. They have won five of their last six games and are also teams in good shape in this class.