CHELSEA FORK OUT £72M ON KEEPER
CHELSEA are to pay a world record £72million fee for Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga after agreeing to meet his buyout clause.
The 23-year-old is due to fly to London today at 10am in a move that will trigger the departure of Thibaut Courtois to Real Madrid.
The deal for Kepa outstrips the £66.8m paid by Liverpool for Alisson Becker last month. The Brazilian was Chelsea’s first choice to replace Courtois, but he was keen to work with Jurgen Klopp.
Courtois has angered Chelsea by staying away from training in recent days in a bid to push through his move to the European champions, who are expected to offer around £35m for the Belgian while allowing midfielder Mateo Kovacic to join Chelsea on loan.
Chelsea focused attention on Kepa with time running out in the transfer window and concerns over their other options. Sevilla’s Sergio Rico and Stoke’s Jack Butland, while both considerably cheaper, had been more inconsistent.
Kepa almost joined Madrid himself in January only for the deal to fall through with his price at £17.5m. Serie A side Napoli, then under the guidance of Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri, also expressed an interest.
Madrid instead decided to keep the door ajar for Courtois after he showed a willingness to join them. As a consequence, Kepa was rewarded with a new £60,000-a-week contract at Athletic but saw his buyout clause rise to £72m.
Though young and relatively raw, 6ft 3in Kepa is regarded as one of the best prospects to emerge from Spain and was named in his country’s World Cup squad.
He travelled to Madrid yesterday as Chelsea’s lawyers deposited the £72m in full at La Liga’s headquarters before flying on to London.
He is expected to sign a five-year contract worth £5m a year after tax and will be in contention to make his debut against Huddersfield Town at the weekend.