A decent article on Penders, henceforth known as Pendo.

BBC Sport

Could ball-playing Mike Penders become Chelsea's no1 goal...

Chelsea's newest goalkeeping prospect, Mike Penders, is from the same production line that produced the legendary Thibaut Courtois.

Pendo, Pendo give us a song!

He's 6' 7". Barco is 2' 6". They'll have to communicate via WhatsApp.

2 hours ago, dermott said:

He's 6' 7". Barco is 2' 6". They'll have to communicate via WhatsApp.

Don't exaggerate Penders is only 6'6"

10 minutes ago, OTL said:

Don't exaggerate Penders is only 6'6"

Sorry. Accuracy is paramount. Barco is 2' 5", the slap on the back of his head cost him an inch. However, my point remains.

On a scale of 1-Thibaut how much does he want to live in Madrid?

1 hour ago, Munkunku said:

On a scale of 1-Thibaut how much does he want to live in Madrid?

Not as much as Enzo Fernandez.

So he's staying then.

Just don't agree with him sitting on the bench for 90% of the season, especially since he is this GK everyone at the club is banking on.

Not unless Alonso and his staff genuinely feel he can push for a starting spot this season.

only way Penders becomes good enough for us is for the two ahead of him die or are sold, Sanchez and the other's name I cant even remember... jorgenson isnt it... Wheres Frode Grodas or Kevin Hitchcock when you need a dependable sh*t keeper?

1 hour ago, Sconnie Blue said:

So he's staying then.

Just don't agree with him sitting on the bench for 90% of the season, especially since he is this GK everyone at the club is banking on.

Not unless Alonso and his staff genuinely feel he can push for a starting spot this season.

I don't really see the harm in giving him a starting spot and seeing how it goes.

Edited Thursday at 16:012 days by Remodez

Herein remains our biggest issue.

If Penders is given the number 1 spot and shows himself to be that good, then great problem solved.

If he is not ready for it then we won't win a title or CL until we have a top, top keeper again, unless we build a team as unbelievably good as PSG have to compensate for an average keeper.

Cech, Tibo and that one amazing year of Mendy delivered for us our biggest achievements. Sanchez I dont see ever doing so.

10 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Herein remains our biggest issue.

If Penders is given the number 1 spot and shows himself to be that good, then great problem solved.

If he is not ready for it then we won't win a title or CL until we have a top, top keeper again, unless we build a team as unbelievably good as PSG have to compensate for an average keeper.

Cech, Tibo and that one amazing year of Mendy delivered for us our biggest achievements. Sanchez I dont see ever doing so.

We are better off giving him a run of games to find out. If he is crap, a top/mid table club will still bet on his talent and pay £20m-£25m. If you stick him on the bench all season, good luck getting £15m.

PSG is a good one, Enrique wasn’t sold on Donnarumma, and was glad to see the back on him. They paid €40m for Chevalier to be first choice GK, because he was brilliant on the ball. Started the first 8 games, but was binned early Dec for the backup Safonov who was already at the club.

31 minutes ago, markpitts said:

We are better off giving him a run of games to find out. If he is crap, a top/mid table club will still bet on his talent and pay £20m-£25m. If you stick him on the bench all season, good luck getting £15m.

PSG is a good one, Enrique wasn’t sold on Donnarumma, and was glad to see the back on him. They paid €40m for Chevalier to be first choice GK, because he was brilliant on the ball. Started the first 8 games, but was binned early Dec for the backup Safonov who was already at the club.

If the choice is Penders, Sanchez or Jorgensen then agreed go with Penders as we know the other two are not good enough

Penders isn't in the squad travelling to Australia. Ominous.

1 minute ago, Valerie said:

Penders isn't in the squad travelling to Australia. Ominous.

He was with Belgium at the WC so like a lot of players, particularly those that got past the first knock out game, are still on holiday and haven’t yet returned to PS training.

For my mind he's young, even if he just plays the cup games this season and nothing else, that's better for me than him spending a year abroad again. He should be in and around the set up, given opportunities where possible and with it only being Bobby ahead of him, he will get his chance if he is good enough.

If he's not good enough, then it's another season with Bobby in goal, who i think provided he isn't forced to play in a suicidal way like Maresca - for a short period - and Rosenior (the first and biggest sign I had that Rosenior was all books and no common sense), then it would be fine.

I dont think the keeper will be the reason we fail to get into the CL.

6 hours ago, terraloon said:

He was with Belgium at the WC so like a lot of players, particularly those that got past the first knock out game, are still on holiday and haven’t yet returned to PS training.

Ah yes, that's right, I forgot about that.

7 hours ago, Valerie said:

Penders isn't in the squad travelling to Australia. Ominous.

More than a few are missing that trip.

Don't know much about him, but I have a good feeling about Big Penders. In honour of the artist formerly known as @garnachocheese I might change my name to Pendo'sPringles

I, too, want to believe in Penders. Not sure why. Guess it's the hope that kills you.