Spanish Goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga's Future at Chelsea Still Remains Uncertain

Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga’s stint at Chelsea may very well come to an end soon. Kepa had spent the last season at Real Madrid having joined the Spanish side on a loan move. An article published by Bernabeu Digital has now claimed that Kepa could be waiting until August to secure a transfer to Real Madrid. The article even went on to claim that Kepa has offer from Saudi Arabia too but he is not willing to move there. Kepa is unlikely to get adequate game time at Stamford Bridge. With Robert Sanchez and Djordje Petrovic already available for the goalkeeper’s position, Chelsea’s newly appointed head coach Enzo Maresca seems quite unlikely to offer Kepa a serious amount of gametime. Kepa did return to Chelsea’s training having reported for the start of pre-season at Cobham but the Blues are reportedly ready to “offload” the 29-year-old.

As per Daily Mail, at Chelsea, Kepa Arrizabalaga has been training separately from the first-team players. Kepa currently has a single year left on his contract and his future at Chelsea seems very much uncertain. Last year, Kepa had expressed his desire to stay at Real Madrid after the conclusion of his loan spell.

“Will I stay after the loan? Hopefully. Today is the first day. We’ll see. Hopefully with my performance I can make that happen,” Kepa Arrizabalaga had said, as per BBC.

Kepa Arrizabalaga had completed his move to Chelsea from Athletic Bilbao for £71 million in August 2018. This was the highest fee ever paid for a goalkeeper. He has so far made 163 appearances for the London giants.

Despite expressing his willingness to stay at Real Madrid, Kepa Arrizabalaga could manage to feature in 20 matches for Los Blancos last season. Kepa’s move back to Real Madrid is understood to be depending on Ukraine goalkeeper Andriy Lunin’s future at the club. If Lunin decides to extend his stay at the Santiago Bernabeu, then Kepa’s move to Real Madrid may seem quite improbable. Moreover, with Belgian international Thibaut Courtois regaining his fitness, there should hardly be any dilemma over choosing the first-choice goalkeeper for Real Madrid.