Transfer

Football
Tuesday 9 July 2013
20.38 BST
Chelsea sign Mark
Schwarzer after
goalkeeper leaves
Fulham
• 40-year-old goalkeeper
will provide cover for Petr
Cech
• Australian signs one-
year contract after being
released
Mark Schwarzer has
joined Chelsea after being
released by Fulham at the
end of last season.
Photograph: Richard
Sellers/Sportsphoto/
Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
David Hytner
Chelsea have signed the
goalkeeper Mark
Schwarzer on a free
transfer to provide
competition and cover for
the first choice, Petr Cech.
The 40-year-old Australia
international was released
by Fulham at the end of
last season, after the
arrival of the Holland
goalkeeper Maarten
Stekelenburg from Roma,
and he has agreed a one-
year contract with the
Premier League's other
west London club.
Chelsea, who have
released Ross Turnbull,
had attempted to take
John Ruddy from
Norwich City only to be
deterred by his price tag.
They had offers of £5m
and £6m rejected.
Norwich wanted closer to
£10m.
Schwarzer offers safe
hands and vast
experience. He arrived in
England in 1996, when he
joined Bradford from
Kaiserslautern, and he
went on to spend 11 years
at Middlesbrough before
joining Fulham as a free
agent in 2008.
He is determined to finish
next season at the World
Cup finals in Brazil with
Australia. "We've just
qualified for Brazil and I
want to continue to play
at the highest level for as
long as possible,"
Schwarzer told Chelsea's
website. "Obviously Petr
is a fantastic goalkeeper
and the No1 goalkeeper at
Chelsea but I am here to
help push him along, he
will hopefully push me
along and help the
younger keepers at the
club as well. I'm very
excited about the
challenges ahead."
Schwarzer said of joining
Chelsea: "It's a
phenomenal club. It's one
of the biggest and best
clubs in the world, and it's
an honour to sign for
Chelsea. I didn't take
much convincing to come
here.
"There were other [offers]
but once I knew Chelsea
was interested it was very
much the case that I
wanted to try and make it
happen."
The Chelsea manager,
José Mourinho, is
expected to offer Henrique
Hilário, last season's third-
choice goalkeeper, a new
one-year contract.
Hilário's old deal has
expired but the club
remain in negotiations
over fresh terms.
Schwarzer's former club
Fulham have agreed a
new one-year deal with
Giorgos Karagounis. The
36-year-old featured 28
times for the club last
season after his free
transfer from
Panathinaikos. The
midfielder was initially
released by the Cottagers
when the retained lists
came out on 7 June.