Chelsea transfer news: Blues confirm loan exit of 19-year-old starlet

Chelsea have formally announced that goalkeeper Mike Penders has moved to Strasbourg on a season-long loan.

Last summer, the Blues paid in the region of £17m to sign the teenager from Genk at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.

Penders was allowed to remain at the Belgian side for last season and he left having made a total of 26 appearances in all competitions.

Rather than enjoy a summer break, the 19-year-old linked up with Chelsea's squad for the Club World Cup, where he was effectively third choice behind Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen.

Although the starlet failed to earn any minutes, he was part of the group that won the tournament ahead of a temporary transfer elsewhere.

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Chelsea confirm Penders exit

Throughout this month, it has been widely claimed that Penders would sign for Strasbourg, who are also owned by BlueCo.

On Monday morning, Chelsea made the loan deal official with Penders essentially becoming a straight replacement for Djordje Petrovic, the Blues loanee who has since signed for Bournemouth.

Chelsea view Penders as a future number one at Stamford Bridge and he will be regarded as first choice at the Ligue 1 outfit.

As such, there is no option for Strasbourg to purchase Penders on a permanent basis at the end of 2025-26.

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The first of three Chelsea players to sign for Strasbourg

Over the coming days, Strasbourg are likely to confirm the additions of Mamadou Sarr and Kendry Paez, also both on loan.

Sarr was also part of the Chelsea squad for the Club World Cup and made his competitive debut for the Premier League giants in that tournament.

However, despite initially being earmarked to stay at Chelsea for 2025-26, the centre-back is instead returning to the club that he only left last month.

Meanwhile, Paez will also represent Strasbourg next season, the Ecuador international also in line to become a first-team regular as he bids to earn a spot in the Chelsea squad for 2026-27.

With the 18-year-old barely playing any football since the start of 2025, the decision was made to continue his development in France rather than remain on the fringes of Chelsea's heavily-populated first-team squad.