23-year-old Chelsea loanee claims three players who’ve now left the club taught him so much in training
Nathan Baxter explained that he was a pupil to three former Chelsea goalkeepers whilst they all worked together at Cobham.
Speaking to the Hull City website, the on-loan ‘keeper revealed the trio of shot-stoppers he learned from during his brief spells in South West London.
Baxter on the road
The 23-year-old has been back and forth between the Blues and other clubs for half a decade.
He rose through Chelsea’s ranks and was part of the double-winning FA Cup and UEFA Youth League side of 2015/16.
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However, Baxter is yet to play first-team football for his boyhood club.
Instead, the Westminster-born lad has spent all of his senior career out on loan, the most recent of which with the Tigers.
His pathway to the big times continues to be blocked by senior ‘keepers arriving at Stamford Bridge.
However, this hasn’t been seen entirely as a negative by Hull’s current number one.
“To train with people like Thibaut Courtois, Asmir Begovic, Willy Caballero, and in most recent years Kepa (Arrizabalaga) and Edouard Mendy, you learn and take little bits off each goalkeeper, because they’re all very different and I like to think I have included a little bit of people’s games into my own,” he said.
Chelsea GKS past and present
Right now, Baxter is only really battling with Mendy and Kepa for a spot at Chelsea.
The other three have all donned the blue shirt at one point, but went their separate ways over time.
Courtois spent several, successful seasons donning the gloves – which included two Premier League titles – before his rather unsavoury move to Real Madrid in 2018.
Begovic barely played for the European champions across his two-year stint, yet still earned a league winners’ medal in 2016/17.
Caballero was the latest departure from the goalkeeping department, made a free agent by Chelsea over the summer.
He is now at Southampton, following an injury crisis between the sticks for the Saints.
With well over 600 clean sheets between them – including Kepa and Mendy’s efforts – Baxter could have picked a worse set of teachers to study off.
