Italian club eye Costa Rican shot-stopper as an alternative to Chelsea man

Fabrizio Romano: Napoli eye Keylor Navas as an alternative to Chelsea star Kepa Arrizabalaga

According to popular Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano on Twitter, Italian giants Napoli eye PSG superstar Keylor Navas as an alternative to Chelsea shot-stopper Kepa Arrizabalaga with the club struggling to find an agreement with the Blues for the Spaniard.

Kepa has had a miserable time at Stamford Bridge. He joined the club on a record transfer fee and was expected to be the replacement for Thibaut Courtois for the Blues but his performances did not live up to expectations and he now finds himself down the pecking order here.

Chelsea signed Eduardo Mendy in 2020 and the talented Senegalese shot-stopper has since then gone on to make that position his own. This has meant that Kepa has been relegated to a bit-part role for the majority of the last two campaigns.

Kepa joined the Blues from Athletic Club in 2018 for a record transfer fee. After showing some initial promise of being the kind of keeper that Chelsea wanted, mistakes started creeping into Kepa’s game which meant that the Spaniard lost his confidence and was never the same player again.

The 27-year-old shot-stopper has played 123 games for the Blues till now conceding 130 goals and keeping just 47 clean sheets in the process. The thing about Kepa is that more than these numbers, he has failed to convince when it matters the most.

This has meant that he has proven to be unreliable for the Chelsea managers and he has not been able to convince them for a starting role. A move away from Stamford Bridge will be the best decision for the Spaniard to resurrect his career.

The Spanish shot-stopper is not a bad player by any means. It is just that things have not worked out as he would have hoped for at Stamford Bridge. Hence, it is likely that he could end up having a decent career if he moves elsewhere this summer.

It is not clear as to why Napoli and Chelsea are unable to reach an agreement. It remains to be seen how things go but Kepa will be hoping that an agreement can be reached so that he can leave the Blues in search of some regular game time.

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• Transfer News: Chelsea are willing to cover Frenkie de Jong’s salary debt to sign him

Kepa at Chelsea has been a flop story and there is no denying this. However, he has a chance to change the trajectory of his career and let’s hope the Spaniard does just that.