OFFICIAL: Mylène Chavas joins Real Madrid

Real Madrid Femenino have announced their second signing of the summer transfer window. The 25-year-old French goalkeeper arrives to the Spanish capital from Bordeaux where she spent the last two seasons.

With Meline Gérard announcing her decision to retire at the end of the season meant Madrid had to make a goalkeeping addition to the squad in order to share Misa’s workload between the sticks. Chavas’ has spent her entire career in France and made her senior French debut last year in a friendly against Cameroon. She has featured at all youth levels for the Les Bleues.

Bordeaux finished seventh in the league last season with a dodgy defense, conceding 33 goals in 22 games. The underlying numbers behind Chavas’ season in goal suggest that she could have performed better, conceding 3 goals more than expected according to Opta’s model. The U20 golden glove winner is blessed with good reflexes in making close range saves and is quick to get to ground, making her adept at saving low shots.

There are some concerns about her game as well. At 178 cms, Chavas is tall but this hasn’t always translated into control in aerial territory. She boasts of a decent cross collection rate but can often be seen misjudging the balls flight trajectory. It’s an area Real Madrid have struggled when it comes to the goalkeeping department.

On the ball, Chavas can circulate the ball at the ball but with distance the accuracy falls off drastically. She struggles when put under pressure as well often misplacing passes and rushing her actions when being closed down. She often chooses to not be as adventurous as Misa in leaving the 18-yard-box.

At 25, the former Dijon keeper is just two years older than Misa. It will be interesting to see how the minutes are distributed between the two goalkeepers.