Chelsea are reportedly prepared to pay an extravagant amount of money to sign Genk goalkeeper Mike Penders.
Since the arrival of Enzo Maresca, the Blues' recruitment team have taken a change of approach with regards to their goalkeepers.
Maresca wants a stopper who is deemed to be good with the ball at his feet, resulting in Robert Sanchez taking the number-one jersey from Djordje Petrovic.
Villarreal's Filip Jorgensen is also due to arrive at Stamford Bridge as extra competition, Petrovic likely to be sold or loaned elsewhere.
However, in recent days, reports have emerged that the West Londoners want to add another youngster to their ranks, even though Gabriel Slonina has been earmarked as the next prospect to progress into the senior squad.
© Reuters
Chelsea ready to go big for Penders
On Monday evening, it was claimed that Chelsea had offered less than £1m to try to sign Penders.
According to Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri, who was commenting on X, Chelsea are incredibly attempting to negotiate a deal in excess of €20m (£16.85m).
Genk, unsurprisingly, are now attempting to ensure that a deal goes through for the 18-year-old where he would also remain on loan for 2024-25.
An agreement in principle is said to have been reached between the respective parties, with Penders also having been offered a long-term contract.
JPL debut with a clean sheet ✅
— KRC Genk (@KRCGenkofficial) July 28, 2024
Good job, Mike Penders 🙌#mijnploeg #krcgenk pic.twitter.com/pYYVczVyhq
Bizarre transfer in the making...
Chelsea spending so much money on a young player is far from a surprise these days, yet the majority of them have senior football to their name.
Penders only made his debut for Genk as recently as last weekend, keeping a clean sheet in a goalless draw against Standard Liege.
Furthermore, the Belgium Under-19 international has a contract until 2028, leaving Genk in full control of discussions behind the scenes.
Nevertheless, it appears that they are more than satisfied with cashing in on a player who has previously been called 'the next Thibaut Courtois'.
Darren Plant
