Djordje Petrovic has hinted he could look to stay at Strasbourg next season if they qualify for the Champions League.
The 25-year-old goalkeeper, who cost Chelsea around £14million, has spent the season on loan with the BlueCo-owned French side and has massively impressed throughout the campaign. Petrovic broke into the Chelsea first-team last season under Mauricio Pochettino after Robert Sanchez suffered an injury in the defeat to Everton in December 2023. The Serbian kept his place in the side for the remainder of the season with some impressive performances for the Blues.
However in the summer, Enzo Maresca, who had taken over from Pochettino following the Argentine's departure from Stamford Bridge, decided he preferred Sanchez. In came Filip Jorgensen in a deal worth around £20million and he joined up with the Chelsea squad for their pre-season tour of the United States, while Petrovic was left back at Cobham.
It was quite clear Petrovic would then leave Chelsea, with the bigger question over whether it would be on loan or on a permanent deal. It ended up being the former, and with the Serbian impressing this season during his time in France, it has forced many to wonder if he still has a future in west London - particularly with Sanchez and Jorgensen both seeing their performances coming under the proverbial microscope this term.
Petrovic, though, is not too concerned on what his future holds. He instead wants to focus on the remainder of the season and helping Strasbourg qualify for next season's Champions League. If that does happen, that could have a big bearing on his future.
"I am focused on finishing the season in the best way," the goalkeeper said. "We'll see after what could happen this summer. It could be a very good option to stay here if Strasbourg qualify for the Champions League."
He added: "I always had confidence in my ability to improve. I have progressed more than I thought [at Strasbourg], but I can still improve between now and the end of the season."
Sanchez has been Chelsea's No.1 goalkeeper for the majority of the season but the Spaniard has come under fire for an abundance of mistakes. No player in the Premier League has made more errors leading to a shot on goal this season than Sanchez (eight). football.london understands, however, that the club retain full faith in both of their main goalkeeping options as we head towards the end of the season.
In the defeat to Arsenal before the international break, Sanchez returned to the Premier League XI after sitting out of the previous four matches. Maresca, speaking before the 1-0 loss, claimed Sanchez needed some time out of the spotlight to recover mentally after a difficult period.
"Since we start, the idea was not to change goalkeeper - but sometimes you have to modify, you have to be flexible in your idea," the Chelsea head coach said. "We do this with the game-plan, we do this with the way we want to attack, the way we want to defend, but also we need to be flexible with players.
"I think Robert needed some days off or at least to rest his head mentally. And now he is back we are hopefully not going to change until the end [of the season], also because I said many times we are quite happy with both goalkeepers."