There were a couple of arrivals in London on Wednesday, July 28 – one which might have flown under the radar and one which was quite high-profile. Chelsea and Crystal Palace both completed deals to boost their squad ahead of the 2021/22 season.
The club confirmed the arrival of free agent Marcus Bettinelli. The shot-stopper was released by Chelsea’s neighbours Fulham at the end of last season, and the Blues snapped him up for free, subsequently. Bettinelli is expected to fill in the gap left by the departure of Willy Caballero, who served as the team’s third-choice goalkeeper last season behind Eduoard Mendy and Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The Englisham signed a two-year contract with The Blues and will take up a home-grown spot in the squad. Upon his arrival, he reflected on a missed opportunity to move to Stamford Bridge in the past.
It’s always been a special club. I know the area very well so it’s been a dream of mine to come over to this side and it’s finally happened. There were some talks a few years ago when I was a bit younger and for whatever reason, that didn’t come about but I’m here now.
he told the Chelsea website.
I’m really excited to be involved and looking forward to trying to impress and help the team as much as I can.
Crystal Palace announced the signing of Joachim Andersen. The Dane back spent last season on loan at Fulham, where he caught the attention of some of Premier League’s bigger clubs. The centre-back also captained The Cottagers for the majority of last season despite signing for the club temporarily from Lyon.
Tottenham, reportedly, were interested in signing the Dane this summer, but he has instead put pen to paper on a five-year deal at Selhurst Park.
Lyon announced the details of the deal: Palace will pay the Ligue 1 side 17.5 million euros which could increase to 20 million after incentives. Ligue 1 side also negotiated a 12.5 percent sell-on fee in the deal, meaning that they will be eligible to receive that percentage of the fee should Crystal Palace sell Andersen to another club later on.
