Date: 7th August 2018 at 6:06pm
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Chelsea have reportedly triggered the £71.6 million release clause of Athletic Bilbao highly-rated Spanish goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Should Arrizabalaga make the move to Stamford Bridge, this transfer will be a world-record for a goalkeeper, surpassing the £67 million which Liverpool coughed up to sign Brazilian number one, Alisson Becker.

Chelsea’s pursuit of Arrizabalaga comes after Thibaut Courtois missed training at the Club for a second-straight day amid a rather inevitable acrimonious departure to Real Madrid. On Monday, he was expected to meet Maurizio Sarri face-to-face. The 26-year-old Belgian is set for a hefty fine as a consequence.

Arrizabalaga has landed in Madrid and will take another flight to London tomorrow where he will have his medical at Cobham. It would be expected that the signing will be announced at some point on Wednesday or Thursday.

MARCA  advance this story and report that the 23-year-old would train ahead of Maurizio Sarri’s first league game which is away to Huddersfield Town on Saturday afternoon. There will be no negotiation as Athletic Bilbao are unwilling to negotiate, so similar to Aymeric Laporte’s transfer to Manchester City, the realise clause will be paid at the La Liga offices.

Kepa turned down a move to European champions, Real Madrid only in January. He, therefore, signed a new contract which does not expire until 2025 and subsequently has a release clause of €80 million.

The 23-year-old is a Spanish international, having made his debut against Costa Rica in November 2017.  He has made 54 appearances for the Basque club, having kept 15 clean sheets.

Kepa seems to have overtaken Stoke’s Jack Butland as Chelsea number one target to replace Thibaut Courtois. 

Should Chelsea sign Kepa, let us know?

 

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