Chelsea rue transfer blunder as Maresca admits 'delicate' problem

Tom Weber

Updated: 22 Feb 2025 15:32 CST
3 min read

Enzo Maresca has admitted that the goalkeeper situation at Chelsea is delicate after Filip Jorgensen was guilty of a blunder against Aston Villa.

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The Blues stormed into an early 1-0 lead against Unai Emery's men on Saturday, but they were ultimately unable to overcome their form slump. A second-half brace from Marco Asensio condemned Chelsea to their fifth Premier League defeat in the past 10 games.

Maresca's side have only managed to beat Wolves and West Ham in the league since December 22 and they also recently crashed out of the FA Cup, leaving them in the midst of a crisis once again.

The goalkeeper position has given Maresca repeated headaches this season, which is quite incredible considering that Chelsea had more than half a dozen first-team shot-stoppers on their books at one point.

Maresca was recently forced to give up on Robert Sanchez as he made mistake after mistake, but his replacement, summer signing Filip Jorgensen, is now also coming under fire as he was to blame for Villa's winner.

Chelsea's Petrovic blunder

Jorgensen still has some credit in the bank as he impressed when given his chances outside of the Premier League earlier in the season, but Maresca was forced to admit that the situation is 'delicate' after the Dane's blunder against Villa.

"The keeper position is very delicate," Maresca said. "When they make a mistake it's clear for everyone. Unfortunately, Filip made a mistake. But in this moment, he's our keeper and we need to stay strong and continue to support each other.

"In some games, both our keepers have been brilliant, but as I said it's a delicate position," the Italian added before confessing that he did not yet know whether Jorgensen would play against Southampton midweek.

One can't help but laugh at Chelsea's goalkeeper mess considering that they offloaded Djordje Petrovic in the summer despite his impressive performances under Mauricio Pochettino last season.

Chelsea argued that Petrovic was not good enough with the ball at his feet to play 'Marescaball,' which is ironic considering that the Blues are seemingly becoming worse the more the Italian implements 'his' style.

Petrovic was offloaded to BlueCo affiliate Strasbourg on loan and has continued to win plaudits. Head coach Liam Rosenior described him as 'world-class' in late January.

“We have seen huge progress from Petro,” Rosenior said after a 2-1 win over Lille. "He is a world-class goalkeeper. We see it every day and it is still paying off today.”

Rather than desperately trying to find a ball-playing goalkeeper, perhaps they should have stuck with the reliable shot-stopper they already had at the club.