Chelsea Football Club have completed the signing of goalkeeper Edouard Mendy from Rennes for £22m on a five-year deal.
The 28-year-old Senegalese becomes Chelsea’s seventh first-team signing of the summer following the arrivals of Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva, Malang Sarr, and Kai Havertz.
Mendy is a direct competition for the number one choice and might go straight into the team as Kepa Arrizabalaga continues to look very frail between the sticks.
Mendy kept nine clean sheets in 24 Ligue 1 appearances last season with Rennes, helping them to finish third and qualify for the Champions League for the first time in their history. He is following in the footsteps of Petr Cech who made the same move from Rennes to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2004.
Mendy says: “I am so excited to be joining Chelsea. It’s a dream for me to be a part of this exciting squad and to work with Frank Lampard and all of his coaching staff. I look forward to meeting my team-mates and can’t wait to get started.”
Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia on Mendy’s signing says: “As soon as Petr Cech and our technical team identified Edouard as the most suitable goalkeeper to complement our existing group, there was only one player we wanted to bring in.
“Edouard arrives following a season of real success with Rennes, he is ambitious for more, and we welcome him to our club.”
Kepa, however, has started the season as Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper but has continued to be a real problem in goal for the blues as he made a mistake for Brighton’s goal in the Blues’ 3-1 opening-weekend win and was at fault for one of Liverpool’s strikes in the champions’ 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
