Spanish club Athletic Bilbao confirmed on their official website that goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga’s representatives have deposited the player’s release clause, ending a 14 year journey with the Basque club.The keeper is on the verge of joining English side Chelsea as a replacement for the departing Thibaut Courtois.
While there is no doubt that Kepa is an extremely talented goalkeeper, the reported price tag of €80 million (£71 million) would make him the costliest goalkeeper of all time, this seems absolutely ludicrous.
To put things into perspective, consider this: Courtois, who has been one of the top goalkeepers in the world for the past few seasons, and who just won the Golden Glove at the World Cup, is reportedly going to cost Real Madrid £35 million, although the reason for that is the fact that he has just one year left on his Chelsea contract.
Kepa was heavily linked with a move to the Bernabeu in January, but the player denied any possibility of that. It later emerged that it was also due to then Real coach Zinedine Zidane’s refusal to replace Keylor Navas as the first choice keeper for Real.
The 23 year old had a good season with the Basque side last time out, with 6 clean sheets in 26 games, and 3.08 saves per game. He is known for his ability to play the long ball and has a knack for making excellent penalty saves.
At 23, Kepa is definitely one for the future, and perhaps that is what Chelsea have in mind. With a disappointing 5th place finish in the league last year, Chelsea need to challenge for the title this season, and a keeper of Kepa’s quality will certainly relish that challenge.
However, paying €80 million for a keeper who had a good season with a Spanish side that finished 16th in the league is a big gamble.
Kepa is a top quality goalkeeper – there is no doubt about his abilities, but he certainly lacks the experience to play for a team that wants to challenge for the title in one of the world’s toughest leagues.
It will be interesting to see what this transfer has in store for both Chelsea and Kepa himself. Perhaps the key to getting the best out of him is to be a bit patient – he spent the past 14 years with Bilbao, and would definitely need time to settle into his new surroundings, especially the pace of the Premier League, and of course get used to the pressure that comes with being the costliest goalkeeper of all time.
That being said, Chelsea have definitely got their hands on one of the top young goalkeepers in the world, and would be hoping that he can pull off the same heroics at Stamford Bridge as he did at the San Mames last season.
Chelsea shattered the world-record fee for a goalkeeper with an 80-million euro swoop for Athletic Bilbao’s Kepa Arrizabalaga on Wednesday as the Premier League transfer window prepared to slam shut. While the rest of Europe’s leading leagues don’t close the window until later in August, England’s top-flight clubs have until 1600GMT on Thursday to wrap up their business. That set the stage for a dramatic day of wheeling and dealing across the country, with Chelsea getting the ball rolling on Wednesday night.
It was announced that 23-year-old Kepa had penned a seven-year contract with Chelsea making him the most expensive goalkeeper in history at 80 million euros ($92 million).
Courtois, who had less than a year left on his Chelsea contract, wanted to move to Spain for personal reasons.