Former Revs GK Djordje Petrovic playing himself back into Chelsea picture | OneFootball

When Djordje Petrovic left the New England Revolution, it felt like it was not a matter of whether the Serbian shot stopper would solidify his place in the top levels of the world game, but only when.

That "when" may be arriving.

After some uneven patches in his first season in Europe with the Chelsea first team, Petrovic has spent the 2024-2025 campaign on loan at Strasbourg in France's Ligue 1. And these days he's playing well enough that Chelsea brass have to be considering a potential return to the starting role for the Blues next season.

Petrovic had kept five consecutive clean sheets for Strasbourg before finally allowing his first goal Sunday in what was still a 2-1 home win over Tolouse. Going back further, Petrovic has not allowed multiple goals in any of his last 13 appearances for his current side and let in only six goals total over that stretch.

And despite being once recruited to MLS by Bruce Arena, a manager who famously downplayed the importance of goalkeepers playing the ball with their feet, Petrovic has also been an elite distributor.

Some of that has owed to stingy defense -- there were two matches of those 13 in which Le Racing did not permit their opponents a single shot on target. Even so, his six goals conceded come while facing 12.4 post-shot expected goals, a prediction model that suggests the average goalkeeper would've been expected to concede roughly six more times.

Not surprisingly, Strasbourg have lost only once in that 13-match stretch while climbing up from the relegation scrap to a comfortable 7th-place perch, with the potential to finish as high as second if the club form continues. They currently own the second-best five-game league form in France behind only Paris-St. Germain.

Over the whole season, Petrovic ranks third among Ligue 1 goalkeepers in overall goals saved based on post-shot xG models, at +0.28 per match. He leads France's top flight in in save percentage (77.7%), is fourth in clean sheet percentage (34.8%) and is tied for fourth in clean sheets (eight).

At Chelsea last season, Petrovic took advantage of inconsistency throughout the club's goalkeeping ranks to earn the starting job from December onward under now-U.S. men's national team boss Mauricio Pochettino. But he was uneven in what was an enormous step up from MLS play, and won games more often because Cole Palmer and company were outscoring opponents than because of his heroics.

This season, both Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen have rotated through the Blues No. 1 role under first-year boss Enzo Maresca, who enjoyed a brilliant start to life in the Premier League but has seen his side come back earth in the months since.

Maresca has faced criticism for being too quick with the trigger at the goalkeeper spot from NBC Sports pundit and former USMNT No. 1 Tim Howard, among others. Both Sanchez and Jorgensen have essentially posted league-average analytic stats during their appearances.