Newcastle United among the clubs targeting Chelsea shot-stopper Kepa Arrizabalaga
According to Daily Star, Newcastle have entered the race to sign out-of-favour Chelsea star Kepa Arrizabalaga, ahead of the summer transfer window.
Chelsea signed Kepa Arrizabalaga from Athletic Bilbao in 2018 by paying a significant sum of £72million – the highest amount paid for any goalkeeper in history. The Blues wanted to turn the Spaniard into a superstar. However, things did not go as planned.
After making some huge blunders in the initial seasons, Kepa lost the managers’ trust and fell down the pecking order. Frank Lampard signed Edouard Mendy from Rennes in 2020 and he has since gone on to claim the number one position for himself.
The Senegalese international has cemented his positions as the no. 1 keeper under Thomas Tuchel and remains one of the best in his business. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense for Chelsea to keep hold of an expensive keeper in Kepa, who although capable will only play a few matches every season.
It is believed that Chelsea are willing to listen to offers in the region of £50m for the Spanish international. There was already tremendous interest from a bunch of La Liga teams, including Atletico Madrid. Hopefully, we can recoup a decent amount for a player who failed to live up to expectations.
Now it seems Newcastle United have entered the race to secure the transfer of the Spaniard. The Newly rich Magpies are backed by Saudi Owners who can pay the significant amount demanded by Chelsea.
Despite a change in club ownership, Eddie Howe’s team remains in the relegation zone. Now the club is targeting high profile targets to form a competitive squad for next season.
Even though Kepa failed to give the expected performance previously, he remains a top-notch shot-stopper. Amid the absence of Mendy due to the AFCON tournament, the Spanish international proved his excellence by giving some game-saving performances.
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Even though having such a quality keeper in the team seems advantageous for us, he might be too good to warm the bench. On top of that, Kepa can still have great value in the market.
Newcastle are in the position to splash a significant amount of cash. On top of that, our board could take advantage of the situation to bring in cash that can be reinvested elsewhere in the playing squad.