Many believed that Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga was in danger of being forced out of Stamford Bridge last season, when he was overtly insubordinate to his then manager Maurizio Sarri during the EFL Cup shoot out. Now under a new manager, Frank Lampard, Kepa could actually be in greater danger of being sent away now.
The 25-year-old arrived in southwest London as the world’s most expensive goalkeeper from Athletic Bilbao in the summer of 2018 as Chelsea were desperate for a replacement for Thibaut Courtois, who had just departed for Real Madrid.
The Blues paid £71.6 million to exercise his release clause, and this was just after Liverpool had shattered the keeper transfer fee record in acquiring Alisson from AS Roma.
So if Chelsea are indeed ready to part ways with him, as the Daily Express is claiming today, then the selling price would be high. The monetary figure could be a sticking point of course, but Lampard has supposedly already lined up his replacement.
With Arrizabalaga being dropped against Leicester City on Saturday, the Blues boss seems to consider his primary option in between the sticks to be a flop. He has a point as we’ve seen plenty of inconsistency from the Spaniard. In terms of replacements, Lampard is looking domestic, with his first choice Englishman Nick Pope of Burnley.
He also has his eyes on Crystal Palace’s Vicente Guaita, but it’s still going to take some convincing of the board. So he has his work cut out for him between now and the end of the season if he’s going to make this happen.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
You can follow Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com on Twitter here and his cat on Instagram at this link.