Chelsea confirm £8m signing of goalkeeper Asmir Begovic from Stoke

Posted Tuesday, July 14, 2015 by theguardian.com

Chelsea have completed the £8m purchase of Asmir Begovic from Stoke City with the Bosnia international replacing Petr Cech as Thibaut Courtois’ understudy at Stamford Bridge.

Begovic, capped 41 times, has signed a four-year contract with the Premier League champions and will travel with the first-team to Montreal on Wednesday as José Mourinho’s squad begin their preparations for the defence of their trophy. The 28-year-old joins Radamel Falcao as the second senior addition to the ranks, with two more significant arrivals still anticipated before the start of the new campaign.

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''I am very happy to be joining Chelsea,” said Begovic, who had spent five years at Stoke following a £3.25m move from Portsmouth and made 172 appearances for the club. “After speaking at length to the manager, I feel like I can develop here and be an important part of this team. I am looking forward to meeting up with the team on Wednesday for the pre-season tour.” The goalkeeper will take the No1 jersey vacated by Cech when he joined Arsenal earlier this month and will expect first-team involvement at some stage next season, despite Courtois’ status as first-choice.

Begovic started his career in England with Portsmouth in 2003 as a teenager and qualifies as homegrown in terms of the Premier League and association-trained for the Champions League.

Stoke, who have signed the veteran Republic of Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given on a two-year deal and secured Glen Johnson on a free transfer on Sunday following his release by Liverpool, have also taken Marco van Ginkel on a season-long loan from Chelsea in a deal considered separate to Begovic’s move.

— Asmir Begovic (@asmir1) July 13, 2015
I am very happy to be joining @chelseafc After speaking at length to the manager, I feel like I can develop here... pic.twitter.com/RJM9rdZ8d0