CHELSEA SWOOP FOR £72M KEPA
Blues break world-record keeper fee as Courtois closes in on Real
CHELSEA will today break the world-record fee for a goalkeeper with a £72million deal for Athletic Bilbao’s Kepa Arrizabalaga. Stamford Bridge officials, after talks yesterday in Bilbao, will be in Madrid this morning to complete the deal with the Spanish FA. Arrizabalaga is then due to fly into London immediately to sign a five-year contract. The deal is set to trigger the £35m sale of Thibaut Courtois to Real Madrid in a whirlwind 48 hours of transfer action, with Chelsea also on the brink of completing a seasonlong loan for Croatia midfielder Mateo Kovacic from the European champions.
Arrizabalaga, 23, is regarded as the most promising goalkeeper in Spanish football and has represented his country at every age group, helping Spain win
the 2012 UEFA European Under-21 championships.
Kepa, who has one senior cap for Spain and was in his country’s squad for the World Cup, was on the verge of a move to Real in January and even passed a medical. However, the move fell through when then manager Zinedine Zidane decided he did not want to change goalkeeper in the middle of the season.
Courtois, who went AWOL from training at Chelsea on Monday as he tried to force through a move to Real, was absent again yesterday. The club have sent the 26-year-old goalkeeper a letter ordering him to a meeting with manager Maurizio Sarri today.
But the Belgium World Cup star has not replied and is not expected to turn up once again. The fee for Arrizabalaga, with Bilbao refusing to accept any less than the £71.5m in the goalkeeper’s release clause, breaks the world record for a goalkeeper set by the £66.9million Liverpool paid for Alisson this summer.
Kovacic, who is valued at about £30m, has been offered to Chelsea by Real as a sweetener in the Courtois deal after the Croatia international yesterday repeated his determination to leave in search of regular games.
Kovacic, 24, was seen as the successor to Luka Modric at the Bernabeu but his arrival on loan has freed up cash for Chelsea to spend more on a replacement for Courtois. Kovacic joined the Spanish club from Inter Milan for £27.5m three years ago but he started only 10 of his 21 La Liga appearances last season.
Chelsea are also in talks with Lyon over a £55m move for France forward Nabil Fekir as Sarri tries to strengthen his squad ahead of tomorrow’s transfer deadline.