Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign New England Revolution goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, but reports have revealed that the price of the package will be slightly more than initially thought to bring him to the Premier League.
How tall is Djordje Petrovic?
Standing at 6 foot 4, Petrovic is a titan between the sticks and has been a regular feature of Bruce Arena’s first team since joining from Cukarici in April 2022 having made 22 starts out of 23 Major League Soccer games so far this season.
Despite still having another two years to run on his contract, the Serbia international emerging as his club’s overall fourth best-performing player with a WhoScored match rating of 7.12 has grabbed the attention of Mauricio Pochettino who is looking to bolster his shot-stopping ranks at Stamford Bridge.
Football Insider recently reported that the Blues’ recruitment team have been closely watching the 23-year-old to replace Kepa Arrizabalaga who has joined Real Madrid on a season-long loan, with The Evening Standard later claiming that chiefs are confident they can secure their target before the end of the window.
Are Chelsea signing Djordje Petrovic?
Taking to X, Fabrizio Romano revealed that Chelsea and New England Revolution have come to a mutual agreement regarding a switch for Petrovic, who is set to undergo his medical tests on Wednesday. He wrote:
“EXCL: Djordje Petrovic to Chelsea, here we go! Verbal agreement in place with New England Revolution on €16m [£13m] deal #CFC. Medical tests booked on Wednesday for the Serbian goalkeeper who’s gonna compete with Robert Sanchez.”
Sky Sports have since claimed in a fresh update that the total fee of the move will be £14m.
In the Major League Soccer so far this season, Petrovic has kept seven clean sheets from 22 matches which is an impressive return so it’s no surprise that he’s been targeted by Pochettino, and should he put pen to paper, it could be a shrewd coup for Chelsea.
The Pozarevac native has also made a total of 97 saves from 124 shots on target against, giving him a success rate of 80.6%, via FBRef, which is significantly higher than Kepa’s 73.3% during the previous campaign, showing how much of an upgrade he’d be on the Spaniard.
Furthermore, New England’s titan has an extremely strong range of passing having completed 100% of his short dispatches and 98.8% of his medium dispatches, so it’s obvious he has a vision for picking out balls to his outfield teammates to push them up the pitch.
Robert Sanchez may have taken the number one jersey, but with him yet to keep a clean sheet since joining, Petrovic could definitely be the perfect goalkeeper to challenge him having been dubbed an “interesting” player by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, and if the above update is to be believed, it sounds like this is a move that will develop quickly as the week goes on as the club’s summer activity continues to show no signs of slowing up.
