Chelsea raid Arsenal academy for set piece specialist who could upgrade key area | OneFootball

Kieran Gill’s Chelsea confidential column for the Daily Mail is becoming essential reading for Blues fans each Wednesday now as it rounds up a week of behind the scenes info from Stamford Bridge that we may otherwise have missed.

This time there’s news of some changes in the coaching setup. Mark Mason has been brought in from Arsenal as “assistant head of goalkeeping”, although that official title doesn’t really reflect the fact that he will be mainly working with players in the academy.

Mason was the head of Arsenal’s academy goalkeeping, and has had a career all over including with England’s youth setup. Gill notes he is “also a specialist set piece coach,” presumably more focused on defending them, which could be handy for some of the academy teams.

Chelsea’s goalkeeping situation far from stable

Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen in a montage together.

Chelsea’s first team’s goalkeeping situation needs more than just good coaching. The chaos there has continued as Robert Sanchez has been ousted as first choice for a second season running, but his replacement Filip Jorgensen has not looked too solid either.

Sanchez will be back in for tonight’s game against Copenhagen, manager Enzo Maresca confirmed yesterday, bringing another chance for him to show he’s recovered some form.

Meanwhile in France, Djordje Petrovic has looked great on loan with Strasbourg and has many fans calling for him to be number one next season. That will be down to the sporting directors, who will surely prefer doing that to buying yet another stopper from the transfer market.

Whether we buy a new option this summer or not, this drama looks set to continue long term. Mason will be happy to know that none of this is his responsibility – he’s just got to focus on preparing the next generation of academy keepers.