During the good times, life often tests us by hitting us hard at the back of our heads. It judges our ability to get up and keep moving forward. In football, it is no different. One such incident happened when the world’s most expensive goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga fell down and life started testing him again and again.
Kepa grabbed all the headlines when Chelsea activated his release clause of £72 million to land him from Spain. In his first season under Maurizio Sarri, his brawl with the manager made him more popular than his good performances did. Just in his second season under the new manager Frank Lampard, his form took a sharp dip and soon enough he fell down the pecking order. The arrival of the new goalkeeper in the form of Edouard Mendy made life more difficult for Kepa and currently, he is serving as the second choice keeper at the club with minimal playing time.
Is This The End Of Kepa Arrizabalaga At Chelsea?
Reportedly, the 27 years old Spaniard wants to get out of the club. With the 2022 FIFA World Cup knocking on the door, he would love to exercise his possibilities of representing his national team on the biggest stage of world football and one team may make his dream come true, Unai Emery’s Villarreal.
Villarreal suffered a defeat against Liverpool in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League and their goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli’s poor performance contributed a lot to that. Emery is willing to let Rulli go or replace him with another goalkeeper and that’s where Kepa comes in.
With the new owners arriving, Chelsea is all set to go through an overhaul and that may result in the departure of the majority of their star players. This makes things easier for Kepa and his agent. The only question remains whether or not Villarreal is willing to match Chelsea’s price tag for him. Villarreal is looking to seal the deal under €20 million but the Blues may ask for much more than that.
Villarreal is supposedly not the only one in the race. Juventus also wants someone for the long term and Kepa is one of the names they are looking at but so is Newcastle. Life is giving him a chance to become a shining star again and Kepa is surely not going to miss out on this opportunity this time around.
