‘Seven-year contract’ - Fabrizio Romano confirms latest Chelsea signing as ‘£15m deal agreed’

Chelsea have agreed a seven-year contract with Serbian goalkeeper Djordje Petrović after having a fee worth up to $19.7m (£15.4m) accepted by New England Revolution.

That is according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, who reports the contract includes the option of a further year as Mauricio Pochettino looks to provide competition to Robert Sánchez. The deal is worth $17.5m up front with a further $2.2m in add-ons.

Three of the club’s goalkeepers are out on loan with Kepa Arrizabalaga most recently making the temporary move to Real Madrid while Teddy Sharman-Lowe and Gabriel Slonina are on loan at at Bromley and K.A.S. Eupen respectively. Chelsea have also lost Édouard Mendy this summer after he made the move to Al Ahli in the Saudi Pro League.

Petrović is expected to go undergo a medical in the next 48 hours and to be available for Chelsea’s home game with Luton Town on Friday night.

The 23-year-old came through the academy at Serbian side FK Čukarički and broke into the club’s first team in 2019. He went onto make 78 league appearances before sealing a move to the MLS in April 2022.

His move to Chelsea will see him become the most expensive goalkeeper in MLS history, breaking the record of $10m when Chelsea signed Slonina from Chicago Fire last year.

Mauricio Pochettino could add yet more signings before the window closes next week, as he said of potential transfers further up the pitch: “We are working, of course. We are looking at all of the options that we can manage on the market. We can see the potential. But I think at the same time, we are keeping one or two eyes on Armando Broja.

“We cannot forget him. We cannot stop him. We really believe in him – we know how important he can be for Chelsea. We need to be careful.

“I think it’s a big disappointment with the situation of Christoph [Nkunku], because he should be a really important player for us and to help Nico Jackson score goals. That is football and we need to accept that situation.

“Sometimes we cannot go for some player that maybe we already have. We need to be patient and adapt our squad and get positive results while waiting for Armando to be fully fit.”