There are reports that Chelsea are on the verge of completing the £8m signing of Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic. This would mean th...
This would mean the Blues have seen off late interest from Manchester United to complete another bit of business early in the transfer window.
If the reports are accurate then Chelsea would have a strong back up to Thibaut Courtois and a transfer profit on the sale and replacement of club legend Petr Cech.
Begovic is an experienced Premier League campaigner that Chelsea have been linked to frequently over the last few years. The Bosnian has played all but a few months of his career in England, having started at Portsmouth when they were in the Premier League before bouncing around the lower leagues on loan before moving to Stoke.
At Stoke he has made more than 150 appearances and been a key figure in the consolidation of Stoke as an established Premier League side.
His signing is a positive one but there is a worry that it is not very cost effective, £8m is alot to pay for a second choice goalkeeper.
Particularly when there are reports that his salary would be in excess of £75,000 per week, although there is a lot of new money in the game it is difficult to determine if this represents good value.
At 28 he is a relatively young goalkeeper with an excellent reputation, it seems odd that he would want to move to Stamford Bridge to be second choice.
His signing is a trade off between the risk of Courtois missing significant time out of action and the cost of keeping such a well paid player on the bench.
Given the importance of a top goalkeeper it appears that Chelsea have rationalised that £8m plus another £4m per year in wages is a price worthy of paying for goalkeeping piece of mind. I am sure Chelsea fans will be reassured to have such a qualified goalkeeper to rely on should Courtois be unavailable.
