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Chelsea's £45m headache for Newcastle revealed as Liam Rosenior creates unnecessary problem
Football | March 13, 2026 6:40 PM CST

The recent exclusion of Robert Sanchez comes as nothing new to the Chelsea goalkeeper. Since moving to Stamford Bridge from Brighton in the summer of 2023 for a fee understood to be in the region of £25million, the 28-year-old shot-stopper is now into his third spell out of the team.

In December 2023, in his debut season at the club, Sanchez was forced off with an injury in the defeat to Everton at Goodison Park. The Spaniard would then miss the next couple of months with the problem but even when he returned, Djordje Petrovic kept his place as the No.1 goalkeeper for few games under Mauricio Pochettino.

Petrovic was then loaned to Strasbourg for the 2024/25 campaign, with Chelsea signing Filip Jorgensen from Villarreal - for just over £20million - to compete with Sanchez. Enzo Maresca, appointed to replace Pochettino, put all of his trust in Sanchez. Up until matchday 24, anyway.

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Jorgensen then came in for Sanchez for four straight Premier League matches. Maresca said: "The Filip solution was also to give Robert some time to recover mentally and physically in general. The idea is not game by game to change the 'keeper. In the last Premier League game against West Ham, it was Filip and then in the FA Cup game, it was Robert but our 'keeper in this moment of Filip."

Sanchez eventually fought his way back into the Chelsea XI and finished the season really strongly. The former Brighton goalkeeper's performances in the run-in, to help Chelsea secure Champions League football for the current campaign, as well as during the Blues' Club World Cup triumph in the United States, had people believing he had turned a corner.

Not a world-beater by any means; Chelsea supporters even came up with a chant to reflect that: 'There's only one Robert Sanchez, one Robert Sanchez, he used to be sh*te, now he's alright, walking in a Sanchez wonderland'. Very much, though, a goalkeeper on the up.

Overall, Sanchez has been one of Chelsea's most consistent performers in an up and down season at Stamford Bridge. However, after a poor performance in the Premier League defeat to Arsenal earlier in the month, Sanchez was dropped for the next game at Aston Villa.

Liam Rosenior put his trust in Jorgensen for last week's 4-1 win at Villa Park, stating the Dane was more effective for the Blues in their bid to beat Villa's high press. It worked on that occasion but in Paris earlier this week, the experiment very much failed. Paris Saint-Germain's high press forced Jorgensen into a costly mistake 74 minutes in and it resulted in the European champions regaining the lead at Parc des Princes.

Jorgensen, who could have done better for PSG's fifth and final goal on Wednesday night as well, apologised to his teammates after the game in the changing room and it is unclear whether Rosenior will drop the Danish goalkeeper for Saturday's visit of Newcastle United.

Rosenior has created a headache for himself with his recent decisions regarding the goalkeeper. Sanchez, bar one below-par game at the Premier League leaders, has been strong all season-long but who knows the mental impact being dropped will have on him. He looked shaky against Wrexham in the FA Cup, a few days after being left out of the side.

As for Jorgensen, while he was not humiliated like Antonin Kinsky was when he was taken off just 17 minutes into Tottenham's 5-2 defeat away at Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night, his confidence would have undoubtedly taken a big hit after his display in the French capital this week.

A huge game against Newcastle on Saturday awaits and Rosenior has to a massive call to make in relation to the goalkeeping duo, who cost the club more than £45million combined, and the head coach needs to get it right.


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