Mike Penders has revealed Paris Saint-Germain showed keen interest before his move to Chelsea last summer.
The Blues signed the goalkeeper from KRC Genk in August 2024 and sent him back on loan to the Belgium club. At that time, the 19-year-old had made only two appearances for the senior team.
Humo have published a detailed interview with the stopper where he discusses Chelsea and PSG interest.
They asked him whether the Jupiler Pro League side decided to hand him opportunities in the first team to increase his asking price.
When responding to that, he said: “I don’t know. Chelsea didn’t choose me based on those few games in the first team.
“They had followed me intensively the whole season before at Jong Genk. So, you see how important the academy is, and why you have to take those matches seriously too.”
The Belgium U19 international then spoke about PSG’s approach and why they decided not to sign him. He also explains what convinced him to agree to join the west London club.
“I didn’t see it coming, Chelsea and PSG are not the smallest clubs. There were others who showed interest, but they pushed through,” Penders explained.
“Only PSG didn’t want to pay what Genk were asking, they didn’t get out. Chelsea, on the other hand, came with a very concrete plan, both sporting and financial.”
Chelsea reportedly paid €20m to buy the young goalkeeper and Humo claims the fee is ‘peanuts’ for the Premier League club. The youngster doesn’t seem to share the same views.
“That’s quite something, isn’t it? I don’t know anything about that [about being a cheap investment],” he added.
Penders wasn’t the only goalkeeper Chelsea took last summer as they also signed Filip Jörgensen from Villarreal. Enzo Maresca has mainly used the Dane as a backup for Robert Sánchez in the Premier League this season.
The Belgian is set to move to Chelsea next season and isn’t worried about the competition at Stamford Bridge.
“At that level you know that you will have to compete with top players anyway. It’s part of it,” Penders said.
