Chelsea are expected to be in the market for a new goalkeeper this summer.
Amid concerns over Kepa Arrizabalaga's form during the 2019/20 season, the Blues have been linked with the likes of Andre Onana, Nick Pope, Dean Henderson, and Jan Oblak in an attempt to solve one of Frank Lampard's biggest transfer problems.
Deals for any of the aforementioned keepers would vary from very expensive to some fairly cheap options, and with the Blues head coach still targeting Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell, and a centre-back, he may need club director Marina Granovskaia to work some transfer magic.
And it would appear that the Blues are going down the route of targeting a keeper who may not well known amongst many supporters.
According to reports, the west London outfit have opened talks with Rennes for the signing of Edouard Mendy.
Interestingly, Mendy was on Chelsea's radar prior to him joining from Reims for an undisclosed fee last summer as confirmed by Loan goalkeeper coach Christophe Lollichon.
"He has reached maturity, with a fairly unusual path, and it is all the more meritorious," Lollichon told Le Phoceen last year. "Edouard Mendy is today, for me, the best goalkeeper of the championship of France.
"He is what I call a proactive, very influential goalkeeper who does not suffer the game.
"Reims really did a great job with him. Maybe at OM they could not detect the talent he had in him, but it was perhaps not the right time too.
"In any case, he's a great goalkeeper that we necessarily follow in the Premier League.
"When you are nearly 2 metres (1m97), with such a ground game, such placement and initiative taking as he has, if recruiters do not look at him, it's because they have to change jobs (laughs).
"Besides, I know he's a very good guy."
This particular transfer rumour has prompted a theory from a Chelsea supporter on Twitter.
@alicfc2005 has raised the point that the last goalkeeper the Blues signed from Rennes was Petr Cech in the summer of 2004 and he went on to have a stellar career in west London.
Could Mendy follow in Cech's footsteps if Granovskaia repeats the same transfer trick and finds Kepa's long-term replacement without having to spend upwards of £50m?
