Chelsea have had a great run of backup keepers. From the days when Carlo Cudicini – already one of the better stoppers in the league at that point – was reduced to second choice by the arrival of Petr Cech, through the exceptional season when Cech was backup to Thibaut Courtois, we’ve never had a problem with dodgy keepers on the bench.
Last year we sold Asmir Begovic – who immediately went to become a first choice Premier League goalkeeper at Bournemouth – and it looked as though we might be downgrading. But that hasn’t been the case. Willy Caballero has come in and been excellent as a number two.
There are whispers now that we will be looking to extend his deal – that’s no surprise – but also that we might consider him our new number one should Courtois leave. Another example of cost cutting from the board. That’s going too far. Just because we’ve been blessed with exceptional backups, we shouldn’t start convincing ourselves that they’ve better than they really are.
