The contracts of Chelsea reserve keepers Willy Caballero and Rob Green are set to expire next summer. Cabellero is currently 37-years-old while Green is 39-years-old. Ideally, the club should offload both veterans and look to bring in a younger keeper to provide valuable competition and cover for first choice Kepa Arrizabalaga.
One keeper who the Stamford Bridge giants should certainly consider signing is Burnley’s Tom Heaton. Heaton is one of the unluckiest keepers in English football at the moment. Since joining the Clarets from Bristol City during the summer of 2013, he has established himself as a quality keeper and has gone on to make 175 League appearances for the club.
He continued to serve as first-choice keeper for the club until early last season and was not relegated down the hierarchy due to under-performance but rather due to his bad luck. Prior to his injury, Heaton was considered as one of the best English keepers and was even touted to possibly start for England during the 2018 World Cup.
During his injury, Nick Pope was given an opportunity to start for the Clarets. Pope made the most of the opportunities given to him, so much so that he was even called up to England’s 23-man World Cup squad. He became hard to drop and Heaton had to unfortunately be relegated to the bench.
Ahead of this season, Heaton suffered further bad luck as both he and Pope happened to be injured at the same time. This left Burnley in a crisis and they had to sign Joe Hart from Manchester City in order to have a quality player between the sticks.
Hart has performed solidly and the experienced keeper has relegated both Heaton and Pope to the bench. Heaton is a quality keeper and Chelsea should consider moving for him. He will be able to provide quality competition and cover to Kepa.
