Napoli have suffered a big blow in their bid to sign Chelsea star Kepa Arrizabalaga
According to a report in Football.London, Italian side Napoli have reached a stalemate in their pursuit to sign Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. They are now ready to make a move for former Real Madrid and current Paris Saint-Germain stopper Keylor Navas.
Luciana Spalletti does have quite a few goalkeeping options in his squad (four at the moment), including the impressive young Alex Meret. But it seems as if he and his staff want to add more experience in that department going into their new season starting in a week’s time.
Chelsea signed Kepa for a goalkeeper’s world-record fee of £71.6m from Spanish side Athletic Bilbao in the summer of 2018.
He was the club’s first-choice option between the sticks for his first two seasons, but never showed the level of consistency expected from him.
As a result of that, the Blues had to dip into the market to sign another goalkeeper in the shape of Edouard Mendy in the summer of 2020 from French side Rennes for a fee of around £22m.
The Senegal international has been an upgrade on Kepa since then, in terms of performances and consistency. With Mendy between the sticks, Chelsea won the Champions League in 2021, beating Manchester City in the final, and had the third-best defensive record in the Premier League last season.
It is more or less clear that Kepa’s position in the squad is more of a backup to Mendy. Keeping someone, who the club had to pay such a big amount for, as a bench player wouldn’t suffice financially. So, it is a blow to Chelsea as well to see Napoli not able to complete the deal to sign the Spaniard.
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Hopefully, Kepa’s future is sorted out soon. With a World Cup around the corner, he still has a chance to make the Spain squad that travels to Qatar. Regular playing time, in that regard, would help his chances a lot.
