Chelsea's 5 best goalkeepers of all time

Goalkeepers get remembered for the mistakes. The good ones, the ones who held the shirt for years, are remembered for the saves that nobody expected. This is my ranking of the men who have kept goal for us, and I have judged them on four things: trophies, clean sheets, big moments and how long they stood between the sticks.

One warning. The fifth spot is thin on hard evidence, and I will say so when we get there.

5. Dave Beasant

Let’s be honest. Dave Beasant is here on service, not silverware. He made 133 league appearances for Chelsea between 1989 and 1993, and his league debut came on 14 January 1989 in a 1-0 home win over Crystal Palace.

I can’t hang a trophy haul on him, and I won’t pretend otherwise. But those 133 league games came in a stretch when the club was far from the machine it is now, and somebody had to be reliable in goal. He was that man for four years, and that earns the last place on this list.

4. Edouard Mendy

Edouard Mendy’s time at the top was short, but it was loud. In the 2020-21 Champions League he kept nine clean sheets, a record for a goalkeeper in a debut Champions League season. That run covered 20 October 2020 to 29 May 2021, and it was a huge part of how we got through Europe that year.

He then finished runner-up to Gianluigi Donnarumma for the Yashin Trophy. Chelsea’s own site says he was only the second Chelsea goalkeeper to be shortlisted for it. You can read about his life off the pitch in our piece on Edouard Mendy’s wife. On the pitch, he sits fourth because the others on this list did it for far longer.

3. Thibaut Courtois

Thibaut Courtois had the biggest frame and some of the biggest numbers. In 2014-15, the season we won the title, he kept 12 clean sheets in 32 appearances. That is a title-winning goalkeeper doing exactly what the job demands.

Then came 2016-17, when he won the Premier League Golden Glove with 16 clean sheets, ahead of Hugo Lloris on 15. He was only the second Chelsea keeper ever to win it, which tells you who the first was. Our post on Thibaut Courtois’ wife Mishel Gerzig shows how closely we followed him. I rate him third, not higher, because I can’t point to a longer run of service or a bigger pile of honours than the two men above him.

2. Peter Bonetti

Peter Bonetti played 729 times for Chelsea, which is second only to Ron Harris (795) on the club’s all-time list. His career ran from 1960 to 1975 and again from 1977 to 1979. That is a goalkeeper who came back for more.

His clean-sheet record of 208 stood until January 2014, when Petr Cech passed it. In the 1970 FA Cup final replay we beat Leeds 2-1, and he played on through an early injury. A year later we beat Real Madrid 2-1 in a replay to win the 1971 European Cup Winners’ Cup final, and he played well in it. Those are big nights, and he was there for both.

He died at 78 in April 2020. For me, he is the only man with a real case against our number one.

1. Petr Cech

It is not close. Petr Cech made 494 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions, 492 starts plus two as a substitute, which makes him the club’s seventh most capped player. He holds our all-time record for clean sheets, with 228.

Then look at the honours: four Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, one UEFA Champions League and one UEFA Europa League. He also won the Premier League Golden Glove three times with us, before Courtois became the second Chelsea keeper to win it.

Bonetti played more games, and I respect that. But Cech did what a goalkeeper is there to do, more often than anyone in our history, and he won everything while doing it. You can relive it in our Petr Cech tribute to his 170 Premier League clean sheets. We also covered the moment he signed for Arsenal. That one still stings, but it does not change what he did in our shirt.

The verdict

Five keepers, five different eras, and one clear leader. Cech’s record puts him above everyone else, and I would say that to anyone. The challenge for the keepers now in our colours is simple: stay long enough and win enough to climb this list. Browse more of our Blog for other Chelsea debates.