An excellent shot stopper who was quick and agile, Cudicini soon displaced the incumbent Ed de Goey as Chelsea's first choice goalkeeper and was a regular in the side for the next four years. He would keep 101 clean sheets for the club, behind only Peter Bonetti and Petr Čech among Chelsea's goalkeepers. He also showed a knack for saving penalty kicks, keeping out six of the twelve he faced, including from Thierry Henry and Ruud van Nistelrooy. Such was his contribution to the team, he was voted the club's player of the year for 2001 and was named the Premier League's goalkeeper of the season by ITV in 2003.
Cudicini lost his first team place after the arrival of Čech in July 2004, and therefore only featured sporadically. He did not make enough appearances to earn a league winners medal in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, and missed out on playing in the 2005 League Cup final after being sent off in a match a week earlier, although he did win two FA Cup winners medals, having been on the bench for the 2000 and 2007 finals. He moved to Tottenham on a free transfer in January 2009, having made 216 appearances for Chelsea.
↧
Carlo Cudicini
↧