Chelsea close in on 22-year-old goalkeeper – Who is Villarreal’s Filip Jørgensen?

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Most saves in La Liga 23/24 

The goalkeeper position at Chelsea has felt pretty unsettled ever since Thibaut Courtois left for Real Madrid in 2018. Before that it was the epitome of consistency with Petr Cech holding the No 1 gauntlet for 11 years. However, since then, it’s been a bit of a merry-go-round in the Chelsea net. The Blues broke the transfer record for a keeper in 2018, when they spent €80 million for Spaniard Kepa Arrizabalaga. A deal that never really worked out culminating in his infamous bust-up with manager Maurizio Sarri in the EFL Cup final in 2019, where he refused to be substituted. He still remains at the club but is expected to leave this summer, having spent last season on loan at Real Madrid. Saudi side Al-Ittihad are the current favourites for his signature.

K. Arrizabalaga

Goalkeeper

Chelsea

34 %

Al-Ittihad

Premier League

Saudi Pro League

Then came Edouard Mendy, who had a superb start, playing a key role in Chelsea’s Champions League triumph in 2021, but then faded and consistent mistakes led to him moving on to the Saudi Pro League. Robert Sánchez was brought in from Brighton for €23m last summer, only to lose his place early in the season to the young Djordje Petrovic, who is missing the Blues pre-season tour with an injury, and has actually also been linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge this summer. It now appears the West London club are going back into the market for a shot-stopper and are targeting 22-year-old Villarreal keeper Filip Jørgensen. 

According to transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea are closing in on the Jørgensen deal, with an agreement with Villarreal at its final stages. Reportedly Chelsea have improved their proposal after an initial bid worth €20m, and they’re now just discussing the structure of the deal with Villarreal, with Jørgensen himself already agreed on a contract. So who is the young Danish goalkeeper? How good has he been in Spain? And will his style suit Enzo Maresca’s way of playing? With Transfermarkt’s expert insight from Spain, we have you covered.  

As you can see in the graphic above, only Toulouse’s Guillaume Restes played more minutes in the top five leagues last season from all goalkeepers currently aged 22 or younger than Jørgensen. The Dane played 36 of Villarreal’s 38 La Liga matches last campaign. Iván Turmo is Transfermarkt’s Area manager in Spain, and believes Jørgensen possesses a lot of potential: “At 22, Jørgensen has a bright future ahead of him, as he is one of the youngest starting goalkeepers in the five major leagues.” Discussing his development and step into Spanish football Turmo continues, “The Nordic footballer was trained at Villarreal where he arrived at just 13 years of age.”

Indeed it’s been an unorthodox journey so far for the Dane. Having trained with Malmo youth in Sweden, he moved over to Spain and spent time with youth sides at Penza Arrabal and Mallorca before moving to the youth set up at Villarreal in 2015. And he may just have the exact attributes that new boss Maresca is searching for, as Turmo explains, “He is a goalkeeper with great potential and qualities between the posts. His height of 1.9 metres (6’3″), his excellent reflexes and his fantastic footwork make Jørgensen a keeper with impressive qualities.”

It’s been made clear that Maresca favours a keeper with very strong ability to play out with his feet – one of the reasons why Petrovic could potentially be out the door, and Jørgensen possesses just that. However there is more to his game. “In just one season, the goalkeeper made fans forget about his criticism to become one of the most important players at Villarreal.” Turmo tells us. “In fact, he finished the season as the goalkeeper with the most saves in the championship with a total of 143 in 36 games.” Former Tottenham keeper Paulo Gazzaniga got closest to Jørgensen’s 143 saves with 125 – 18 short of the Dane. He is expected to come into rival Sánchez for the No 1 shirt this season, and with time on his side at 22, Chelsea will be hoping to finally have some long-term security and stability between the sticks.