Chelsea’s 3 Best Goalkeepers Ever

Goalkeepers have a very crucial yet an underrated spot in a football team. They can decide the fate of a team with their performances alone. All of the greatest teams to play the sport have always had an iconic keeper, a figure that can be associated directly with the club, for example, Casillas – Real Madrid and Buffon- Juventus. Chelsea have also had their fair share of top-class keepers, who have the reflexes of a cat. Here we’ll see who makes this list of the best Goalkeepers to have represented the club.

Best Chelsea Goalkeepers Ever

3. Thibaut Courtois

Although the Belgian left the club in 2018 on a very sour note, he had a very remarkable spell as the Chelsea number 1 (he wore number 13). Courtois graduated through the Genk academy and helped the club win the Belgian Pro League as an 18-year-old. He moved to Chelsea in 2011 for a reported 8 million fee. He was immediately loaned out to Atletico Madrid where he had a very successful spell. In the three seasons in Spain, he won the Europa League, the Copa Del Rey and the La Liga title. He won the award for the best goalkeeper in Spain in 12-13 and 13-14. His rise as one of the best goalkeepers in the world was noticed by parent club Chelsea and he was called back in summer 2014 as Cech was reaching the twilight of his career. Courtois immediately replaced Cech as the first choice leaving club legend Petr Cech out on the bench.

The Belgian won the League in his very first season along with Atletico Madrid teammate Diego Costa who had also moved to London in the summer.

Two years later, he won the golden glove award for the most clean sheets in the Premier League as Chelsea won the League title again.

Courtois also has 79 national caps for Belgian and stands as the youngest keeper to ever play for the country for when he made his debut in 2011. He won the Golden Glove in the 2018 World Cup which further cemented his place as one of the best goalkeepers around the world.

He ultimately left for Real Madrid for a reported fee of 35 million in the summer of 2018 after failing to turn up for pre-season post the World Cup.

2. Peter Bonetti

The recently demised Bonetti was a hero at the club which he represented for 20 whole years. Bonetti was nicknamed “The Cat” because of his quick reflexes and safe handling. The Englishman was a part of the only English squad to ever win a World Cup in 1966 but he mainly served as a backup to Gordon Banks.

Bonetti has made a total of 729 appearances for the Blues and is only behind Ron Harris in the all-time Chelsea appearances list. He has also kept more than 200 clean sheets for the Blues across his appearances in the first and second division.

Bonetti was made the first-choice goalkeeper in the 1960-61 season, a position that he mostly maintained for the next 19 years. He was a key figure in a young side which had the likes of Bobby Tambling and Terry Venables in the early 1960s where Chelsea gained promotion immediately after relegation. He won his first major honour with the club in 1965 where his inspired performance lead the club to a win over Leicester City over two legs.

In 1975, he left on a free transfer to St. Louis where he won the Central Division and also reached the play-off semi-final. He returned to Chelsea where his experience proved invaluable to a young side managed by club hero Eddie McCreadie. He won the League Cup, the FA Cup and most notably the UEFA Cup Winners Cup with Chelsea.

Also Read – Chelsea’s All-Time 11 

1.  Petr Cech

It just has to be Petr Cech at the top of this list. The Czech international moved to Chelsea in the summer of 2004 for a fee of 7 million from French club Rennes. This fee was then the highest amount that Chelsea had ever spent on a goalkeeper. Cech was bought by Mourinho after the first-choice keeper, Carlo Cudicini was seen struggling with injury issues for most of the 03-04 season.

Cech made 494 appearances in the next 11 years keeping 227 + 1 (substitute) clean sheets in all, having a superb 46% clean sheet percentage. Bought in the same summer was Centre-back Ricardo Carvalho. The Portuguese, Cech and Terry formed the famous steel triangle which proved to be the foundation of Chelsea’s success. Cech kept 203 clean sheets in the Premier League which makes him the record holder in this particular stat. He conceded just 15 goals in his first season keeping 25 clean sheets. Both of these stats are also records still under his name.

His 11 years at the club brought him 4 Premier League medals, 4 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, 1 Europa League and 1 prestigious Champions League medal. His performance in the 11-12 Champions League final remains the best performance by a goalkeeper in a European final. Bayern had a total of 35 shots on the goal in which they scored just 1 goal which Chelsea were able to match, thanks to an unstoppable header from Didier Drogba. Cech also saved a penalty from Arjen Robben in extra time which kept Chelsea in the final. In the shoot-out, he repelled the final 2 penalties, one from fellow Czech international Ivica Olic and one from Bastian Schweinsteiger, which have Chelsea the edge.

Also Read – 5 Best Chelsea Strikers of All-Time

Notable Mentions who were the top contenders for list of Greatest Chelsea Goalkeepers of All-time:

• Carlo Cudicini
• Ed de Goey
• Henrique Hilario
• Dmitri Kharine