Chelsea will offer Willy Caballero a new contract but only if the club can fill their homegrown quota this summer, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The newspaper say Chelsea were already minded to give veteran goalkeeper Caballero, 37, a new deal but have been further convinced by his professionalism of late.
The Argentine, whose contract at Stamford Bridge is due to expire this summer, has won praise for his response to Kepa Arrizabalaga’s refusal to make way for him during the Carabao Cup final.
However, while the club would like to retain him for another year, his situation is not straightforward.
Chelsea need to fill their Premier League and European homegrown places next season after the likely departures of Gary Cahill, Danny Drinkwater, Victor Moses and Robert Green.
The club tend to fill one of their homegrown spots with a back-up keeper – hence the signing of the 40-year-old Green last year.
Doing so again would mean either giving Green a new deal or signing a new keeper to compete with Kepa and Caballero.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri said he had not yet decided whether to recall Kepa for Sunday’s derby against Fulham.
“No not at the moment. I want to see our last two training sessions,” he said.
“Kepa is our first goalkeeper. But we are very happy for Willy because now we know very well that he’s able to play in a very difficult match also.”