Jorgensen demands Chelsea exit as Alonso weighs Sanchez against Penders for No.1 spot

Filip Jorgensen has informed Chelsea that he wants to leave Stamford Bridge this summer, after holding a direct meeting with the club’s head of global goalkeeping Ben Roberts in which he made clear that consistent first-team football is his priority. The 24-year-old Danish international, who joined from Villarreal for just over £20 million in the summer of 2024, managed only 12 appearances throughout the 2024-25 campaign and has since earned a Denmark call-up ahead of the World Cup.

Jorgensen’s departure request leaves incoming head coach Xabi Alonso with a straight choice between current No.1 Robert Sanchez and 20-year-old Mike Penders, who impressed on loan at Strasbourg — a fellow BlueCo club — and is now expected to be integrated into the senior squad at Stamford Bridge next season.

Alonso, who is set to wield significantly more influence over transfer decisions than his recent predecessors at Chelsea, is also expected to pursue a centre-back, a midfielder, and a left-sided winger during the summer window as the club looks to overhaul a squad that finished tenth in the Premier League this season.

Chelsea’s campaign ended with a 2-1 defeat at Sunderland on the final day, a result that extinguished their hopes of European football next season. Interim head coach Calum McFarlane, who took charge for the closing weeks of the campaign, expressed his regret at failing to deliver a European place for the club’s supporters.

“We’re as disappointed as them,” McFarlane said after the loss at the Stadium of Light. “We’re gutted that we couldn’t do it for them — they’ve been brilliant this year. They’ve really supported us, especially in the last couple of weeks when we’ve needed to win games. We felt their presence and unfortunately we’ve let them down. We weren’t able to put the performance in that they deserve.”

Alonso’s appointment represents a significant reset for Chelsea, and the club’s hierarchy is expected to back him with the resources and transfer authority to mount a genuine top-four challenge in his debut season.