Real Madrid join Bayern Munich in the race for Chelsea star Kepa Arrizabalaga after the ACL injury to Thibaut Courtois. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images)
Speaking before the game against West Ham United, as quoted by Football.London, Thomas Tuchel has revealed that there’s still uncertainty over the extended stay of Kepa Arrizabalaga at Chelsea.
Kepa Arrizabalaga lost his position in the Chelsea team as soon as Edouard Mendy flourished from the goalkeeping spot. Since then, Spaniard has remained a backup asset for the Blues. Even though he performed impressively when handed an opportunity, he has been limited to a mere 15 appearances so far this season.
Even though there is no denying Mendy’s quality, Kepa might have deserved more chances in this spell than he got. The Spaniard played all the rounds of the Carabao Cup and gave a heroic display in the Club World Cup semi-final. However, Mendy got the nod to feature ahead of him in both finals.
Thomas Tuchel revealed that he understands the Spaniard’s frustration after missing deserving chances to feature for the club. The current situation is only leading the Spanish international to an exit. As the summer transfer window approaches, there is massive speculation over his future.
When asked about the Spaniard’s future in a recent interview, our German manager explained that the situation is unclear between the club and the player. But he lauded the Spaniard for his professionalism.
“We need to ask him, and we need to be honest with him. And he needs to be honest with us; this is the most important. He is still our player, and we don’t know about the situation with the ownership, what is possible and what is not. So first of all, he is our player, and he is a fantastic guy to deal with this kind of situation, which is not easy for him.”
Kepa put his body on the line for our team when Mendy was away playing for his country in the AFCON tournament. Without the Spaniard’s heroics, we might not be in our current position.
Not getting deserved chances hurt most players. Kepa has been dealing with his frustration behind the scenes. But if the situation prevails, he would probably lose his motivation. Having such a quality backup keeper has helped us massively. But it has been a daunting experience for his career.
Keeping him at the club should become our board’s priority as the player would give us good services in years to come. On the other hand, we won’t be able to retrieve the £71.6million fee that we paid for him.
But to keep him at our club our manager has to give him more chances. He should get opportunities to feature in domestic tournaments as long as he provides convincing spells.
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