Chelsea moved quietly yesterday and amongst all the other rumours and high profile transfers, the Blues completed the signing of Australian international goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer on a one year contract. Chelsea had a simple deal to do here as Schwarzer recently decided not to extend his current deal with Chelsea’s West London neighbours, Fulham FC, therefore Schwarzer was signed on a free transfer with no fees involved. Schwarzer made over 200 appearances for Fulham over 5 years after joining them from Middlesbrough.

Chelsea recently parted company with Ross Turnbull and Henrique Hilario their two previous back up keepers from last season. Other Chelsea goalkeeper – young Belgian goalie Thibaut Courtois has just finished his second season on loan with Atlético Madrid where he has been excelling and has now agreed to another season on loan in Madrid. Courtois clearly wants and deserves to be playing top class first team football so his return to Atlético makes sense. However, Courtois’ return to Atlético along with the releases of Turnbull and Hilario does leave Chelsea a bit short of options in goal so the Schwarzer signing makes sense on many levels.

Schwarzer is still in excellent shape and playing in the best form of his life at the age of 40 years old – he is still first choice for his national team and he plans on playing at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. As reported on SkySports News, this deal gives Schwarzer the chance to still play at the highest level on a top team and he will probably get more games than either Turnbull or Hilario did since he is a better calibre keeper and Mourinho will be more inclined to rest Cech when he can turn to a keeper of Schwarzer’s class.

Schwarzer won the Football League Cup with Middlesbrough in 2003-4 and he was instrumental in Fulham’s awesome run (under current England boss, Roy Hodgson) to the final of the UEFA Europa League in 2009–10 where they ended up coming up just short and finished as Runners-up. So the Australian goalie has plenty of European experience plus he has played in big international competitions for his country so he is ready for what awaits for him with the Blues.

This transfer is a great piece of business as Chelsea get an excellent back up goalie who will relish the opportunity to add some more trophies to his CV and play under Jose Mourinho in a World Cup year. That’s what I call a win-win!