On this day in 2018, Chelsea signed Kepa Arrizabalaga from Athletic Bilbao. It is safe to say the move didn't work out as hoped.
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Expensive transfers at Chelsea FC are nothing new. After all, ever since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich took over in 2003, they have been generous in spending money on players. It must be noted, however, that merely splashing money is no guarantee of success. The club have signed a number of players who went on to have good careers at the club. But there have been a number of signings that didn’t work out, and expensive ones at that. Andriy Shevchenko, Fernando Torres and Alvaro Morata all come to mind. However, another expensive player who seemingly has no future at the club and is still around is goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Chelsea smashed their own transfer record to sign the Spaniard from Athletic Bilbao. What’s more, he also became the world’s most expensive goalkeeper. Despite that, it is safe to say things have not worked out for the Basque native.
With three years having passed since his signing, we look back at the circumstances that led to his signing and how it’s since worked out for club and player.
It is worth remembering that, in the summer of 2018, Chelsea did not intend signing a new goalkeeper. That’s because they had Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois on the books.
However, the Belgian wanted a move to Real Madrid and would eventually force a transfer to the Spanish giants. It helped considerably he had only a year on his deal.
But this left Chelsea in a bind. They suddenly needed a new number 1 between the sticks.
The club initially moved for Allisson, who was then at Roma. However the Brazilian had already agreed personal terms with Liverpool and chose not to entertain Chelsea’s offer.
This meant the Blues needed to look elsewhere. They would eventually try to negotiate with Athletic Bilbao for Arrizabalaga, but the Basque club are notorious for not negotiating.
They have release clauses in the contracts of all their players and they can only leave if those are met. This meant Chelsea would need to pay up the 71 million pound fee. Which they eventually did.
In hindsight, this was a bad deal. However, it is worth noting that in January 2018 Kepa was subject to interest from Real Madrid, of all clubs. This would lead to him signing a new deal with the release clause Chelsea eventually paid.
And all because they lost their own first-choice goalkeeper to Real.
Arrizabalaga started off well enough at Chelsea, putting in decent performances when in goal. However, fans and experts noticed he had an error or two in him.
Leeway was given because adjusting to the Premier League can be hard – David de Gea notably struggled with this during the early days of his Manchester United career.
However, the first flashpoint of Kepa’s Chelsea career came during the 2019 Carabao Cup final. Then, he infamously refused to be subbed off despite appearing injured. Chelsea went on to lose the game.
He was dropped for a bit afterwards but regained his place in the side. He also found form as the club did during the latter stages of the season, and it culminated in a Europa League win.
Kepa was first choice in 2019/20 under new manager Frank Lampard too. However, his inconsistency began to plague him in the second half of the season.
Lampard even dropped him for a run of six games before restoring him to the line-up. But his days at the club seemed numbered when, in the summer of 2020, Chelsea signed Edouard Mendy from Rennes.
Mendy duly displaced Kepa Arrizabalaga in the line-up but so far, the Spaniard has chosen to stay on at the club. It is easy to understand why.
He is on a seven-year contract (really) and earns massive wages. Even if he wants to leave, finding a buyer for a player viewed as damaged goods and on big money is not easy. Especially in a market crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As things stand, he will remain a Chelsea player going into the 2021/22 season. However, whether or not he regains his spot in the first team is unclear. If he did, it would be some turnaround of fortunes.
