Filip Jorgensen has joined Chelsea from Spain’s Villarreal for a fee of €24.5million (£20.7m, $26.6m). The 22-year-old goalkeeper has signed a seven-year contract.
Our writers — experts in transfers, tactics, data and football finance — have come together to rate this summer’s senior Premier League deals in five categories, with each aspect given a score out of 100, to reach a total score out of 500. Hence, The Athletic 500. The ratings are explained in more detail here (not all signings will be rated, as there may be a lack of data on the player involved to support an analysis).
Below is our rating for this move.
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Tactical fit — 69/100
A look at how the player fits into his new club tactically, using Sentient Sports’ bespoke tactical-fit model, explained by our tactical expert.
Jorgensen, at just 22, brings plenty of potential to Chelsea’s goalkeeping department, though he is still developing and is not yet the finished article. Last season, he showed good decision-making skills when it came to covering angles in one-v-one situations.
The Dane’s performance metrics for Villarreal highlight both his strengths and areas for improvement.
He averaged 1.73 goals against per 90 minutes, placing him in only the 20th percentile among positional peers in Europe’s top five domestic leagues (Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, the German Bundesliga, Serie A in Italy and France’s Ligue 1), Champions League and Europe League; in other words, 80 per cent of ’keepers conceded fewer than that. However, he made the most saves in La Liga last season (143). Indeed, he excels in shot-stopping, making 3.89 saves per 90, putting him in the 93rd percentile in the same seven competitions.
As this sequence from a game against Atletico Madrid in April begins, Antoine Griezmann plays a ball into Samuel Lino’s path. Jorgensen adjusts his position and covers the angles well, making it difficult for Lino to aim for the near post and forcing him to shoot across goal. Jorgensen drops to make a great save with his feet, then quickly gets back up to face a potential rebound.
Jorgensen’s ability to make the initial save and be agile enough to recover and position himself for any follow-up is excellent. He has also shown good footwork and positioning, which have been the main factors in preventing long-range shots finding his net.
His save percentage of 72 per cent reflects good shot-stopping ability, especially when compared to Djordje Petrovic, Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper at the end of last season, whose save percentage for 2023-24 was 65.7 per cent.
Jorgensen is quite accurate with his long passes, completing 40.3 per cent of them, which is better than most of his peers (76th percentile). However, he doesn’t attempt that many, only 9.8 per game (27th percentile). When it comes to dealing with crosses though, he faces a load — 17.8 per match (99th percentile).
Working under Chelsea’s new head coach Enzo Maresca, Jorgensen can expect to be involved in deep build-up, often starting moves from the back with short passes to beat the press. There is likely to be an expectation for him to join in with the back line to create numerical superiority. This helps to create more passing options and circulate the ball, allowing the goalkeeper’s team to play through to a double pivot.
However, Jorgensen may need to improve on the ball to do all of that. He can sometimes avoid positions where he could receive a pass and maintain possession, while he is susceptible to a lack of accuracy — finding team-mates’ weaker foot, or not putting the ball in front of them.
Overall, while Jorgensen is a good shot-stopper, he needs time to develop.
Chelsea fans may need to be patient as he works to improve his on-the-ball abilities.
Season rating: 65/100
Rating the player over the course of last season, using statistics from The Athletic’s data team.
Jorgensen was one of the major positives in an often difficult 2023-24 for Villarreal.
He only played in one of their 11 games in the Europa League and Copa del Rey (Spain’s version of the FA Cup in England), so we will focus on La Liga.
Villarreal lost three of their first four matches, conceding nine goals in those fixtures: Jorgensen kept a clean sheet in their only win among the four (1-0 away against Mallorca) and made seven saves in a 4-3 home defeat by Barcelona, but gave away a penalty as they were beaten 3-1 in Cadiz.
Both player and club found a little consistency from there, as Villarreal lost just two of their next seven league games, with Jorgensen putting in one of his best displays of the season in a goalless draw at Getafe, making nine saves. However, another spiral followed as they lost six of their next nine, with Jorgensen particularly struggling in a 3-0 away defeat against Las Palmas in the final match of that run.
A 1-1 with Mallorca and a famous 5-3 win at Barcelona, in which the Denmark Under-21 international made another seven saves, in successive games in late January sparked another mini-revival. Villarreal went on a nine-match unbeaten run in La Liga, with Jorgensen missing just one of those fixtures.
Coach Marcelino’s men ended their season with just two defeats in their final nine outings, which included a 1-0 win over Girona, where Jorgensen stood out again, and a 4-4 draw with champions and future Champions League final winners Real Madrid. Those results helped Villarreal finish eighth, one place and four points shy of European qualification.
Jorgensen was crucial to their improved form in the league, performing better than his record of 63 goals conceded and six clean sheets in 36 appearances may suggest.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Gaming rating: 75/100
Rating the player according to Football Manager 2024’s data across both current and potential ability.
As per Football Manager’s extensive scouting database, Jorgensen profiles as a decent first-choice Premier League goalkeeper and a solid initial backup option.
His ability rating of 139 is not too far behind the scores of new team-mates Petrovic (141) and Robert Sanchez (142). Additionally, the Dane’s future ceiling provides more reasons for optimism. His potential ability rating on FM24 is 160. This is the same as Sanchez, who is four years older than him and has featured in more than 100 Premier League matches for Brighton and now Chelsea, and higher than 24-year-old Petrovic’s 155.
Jorgensen has already displayed potential in his one full season with Villarreal’s first team after coming through their academy, and his FM ratings suggest he will continue to improve with more exposure to top-flight football.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Financial value rating: 60/100
A four-category summary of the player’s transfer in financial terms — and whether it makes sense for his new club
Market value — 17/25
As mentioned, Jorgensen has played just one full season as a first-team regular, but that came in a top-five league in La Liga — and he impressed. He only signed a new five-year contract with Villarreal last month, so a fee of £20.7million does not seem overly high, especially given the 22-year-old’s age and potential.
Squad cost — 15/25
The outlay is not substantial by Chelsea’s standards and with the possibility of Petrovic being sold just one season after arriving at Stamford Bridge and Kepa Arrizabalaga, who has returned from a season on loan at Real Madrid, expected to leave, this signing makes sense from a squad investment point of view.
Contract sensibility — 14/25
As Chelsea have often done in recent transfer windows, a promising young signing has been put on a lengthy contract. In this case, seven years. This should secure Jorgensen’s value while spreading the cost of his purchase out across a longer period. The risk is that he does not develop into a first-team player and they are lumbered with another player who has several seasons left on their deal.
Resale value — 14/25
Jorgensen is young and on a long-term contract, and being a goalkeeper, he (all being well) has many seasons of football ahead of him, so he should still be a sellable asset in the coming years. However, Chelsea have rattled through a stack of ’keepers in recent seasons, so his development at the club is far from certain.
Alex Brodie
Risk or reward? 80/100
Is there a history of injury or other problems that could crop up and make this deal a bad one in retrospect? Or does the player come with a clean bill of health? Our expert takes a look.
At £20.7million, Jorgensen’s acquisition could prove a coup for Chelsea. He is a talented goalkeeper who starred in Villarreal’s La Liga revival in the second half of last season, leading to interest from clubs across Europe.
Jorgensen is unlikely to immediately become the starter, but his willingness to join Chelsea suggests he is happy with initially being a backup whose chances of game time are probably going to be in the domestic cups and Conference League.
Chelsea’s signings over the past two years have not always worked out and Jorgensen, like many of those before him, will need time to adapt to the demands of both the Premier League and the system new coach Maresca has brought with him from 2023-24 Championship winners Leicester City, and to iron out the errors in his game. As detailed above, he’s already an adept shot-stopper, but has work to do with the ball at his feet.
Jorgensen would be expected to improve with time, making him a signing with the potential to become Chelsea’s No 1 in the long term.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Overall rating: 349/500
(Photo: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)