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.
“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.