Chelsea ended up enjoying a far more successful campaign last time around than many expected them to do halfway through the season.

Despite the fact they won’t be playing in the Europa League next season, they did still finish in the top six, an ending which looked a long way away at parts of Mauricio Pochettino’s only year with the club.

A large part of that can be put down to the brilliance of Cole Palmer in his first season at the club, with him performing as well as anyone in the entire league last season.

However, there were a number of other players who stepped up, perhaps more so than many expected in the latter stages.

After not playing at all until December, Djordje Petrovic established himself as the number one at Stamford Bridge for the second half of the season.

Chelsea stunned at how good Djordje Petrovic was last season

Signed for just £14m, it felt as if the intention was for him to play second fiddle to Robert Sanchez.

Matt Law told ‘London is Blue’ that the club as a whole were impressed by the former MLS star, saying they now do not want to block his development next season.

He said: “Chelsea are very impressed with Petrovic. They thought Petrovic had a much better season than they were expecting last season, so they’re not going to totally block his path either.”

It remains unknown at this stage who will start the season in goal at Stamford Bridge.

Uncertainty over goalkeeper situation at Chelsea

While new manager Enzo Maresca reportedly singled out Petrovic for praise during his initial talks with the club, it has since been claimed that he is looking forward to working with Sanchez.

A new goalkeeper being signed has not been completely ruled out, and the fact Chelsea are dealing with Aston Villa in a deal for Ian Maatsen should push the Blues to look there and approach regarding signing Emi Martinez.