Chelsea have signed goalkeeper Edouard Mendy from Rennes for £22m on a five-year deal.
The 28-year-old becomes Chelsea’sseventh first-teamsigning of the summer following the arrivals of Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva, Malang Sarr and Kai Havertz.
Mendy will compete with Kepa Arrizabalaga and Willy Caballero to be the club’s No 1.
Kepa has started the season as Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper but made a mistake for Brighton’s goal in the Blues’ 3-1 opening-weekend win and was at fault for one of Liverpool’s strikes in the champions’ 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Mendy is following in the footsteps of Petr Cech – now Chelsea’s technical and performance adviser – who made the same move from Rennes to Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2004.
The 28-year-old kept nine clean sheets in 24 Ligue 1 appearances last season with Rennes, helping them to finish third and qualify for the Champions League for the first time in their history.
