Chelsea rising loan star responds to claims he should have stayed at former club

The international break is pretty interesting in the way that it allows players to go home and speak to the media from their home country.

They often give different quotes to what they might say in the UK, and we get to hear from a broader selection of players.

Penders responds to claims about his loan

Strasbourg announce the signing of Mike Penders.

Mike Penders is a good example – he signed for us a year ago but because he’s been on loan we’ve barely heard from him since. His chat with a Belgian paper while on U21 duty there had lots of interesting thoughts about his decision to move to Chelsea.

Last year he stayed on loan at Genk, this year he’s been shifted to our sister club Strasbourg. That was the first decision he was asked about:

“Would it have been a bad idea to stay at Genk? Maybe not, but the choice has now been made for Strasbourg, and I’m going for it 100%,” the keeper said philosophically.

“You don’t know anything beforehand, of course, but after a while it became clear and I had options to go out on loan. I’m very happy with my choice.”

Penders on Ligue 1 loan

“For me personally, it’s simply important that I continue to develop, that I get better at things that are important as a modern goalkeeper. Being able to play well with the football is very important these days, for example.

“And of course, you have some truly top matches in Ligue 1. In two weeks, I’ll be playing against PSG, who won the Champions League. Those are the matches you do it for. The pressure of that match and playing in a full stadium is important for me, for my development.”

We can’t see why it would have been better to stay in Belgium – he’s gone to a bigger and better league with more pressure.