Edouard Mendy has left Chelsea to join Al-Ahli this summer, leaving Mauricio Pochettino with only Kepa Arrizabalaga between the sticks, so the Blues are on the hunt for a replacement. Fabrizio Romano said on his YouTube channel that one of goalkeepers on Chelsea’s radar is Anatoliy Trubin of Shakhtar Donetsk.
Chelsea do have Marcus Bettinelli and Gabriel Slonina as options between the sticks, but Romano doesn’t believe they’re considering an in-house solution to Mendy’s exit and will go shopping for another goalkeeper. Trubin is highly-rated and finds himself playing regularly for club and country at age 21.
He rose through the youth ranks to Shakhtar’s first-team in 2020 and has gone on to make 94 appearances in all competitions, conceding 94 goals with 39 clean sheets. For Ukraine, Trubin has featured seven times, with 12 goals conceded and one clean sheet kept. He has a bright future ahead of him, so it’s little wonder Chelsea are keen.
Pochettino will have competition for his signature, however, with the 21-year-old’s representative revealing Inter Milan are also showing interest as Andre Onana could be exiting the club this summer. The agent didn’t reveal how much Trubin will cost, so his asking price is up in the air.
Being a regular for club and country at such a young age, coupled with growing interest in Europe, means he won’t come cheap. Romano says Chelsea are sticking with Kepa as their first-choice goalkeeper next season but will bring in a new No.2 as competition. It remains to be seen what will happen to Bettinelli and Slonina, however.
Kepa made 39 appearances across the board in 2022/23 and has two years remaining on his deal at Stamford Bridge, so he won’t be going anywhere. Trubin is a talented shot-stopper with bags of experience, so he won’t be content sitting on the bench at a big club. He’ll want to fight Kepa for a starting place if signed.
