Kepa Arrizabalaga

[mclovin83]

9 minutes ago, Nibs said:

This is really exciting but I can't help feeling a dreadful hypocrite.

When Liverpool splashed out that sum of money on their keeper recently I thought it was obscene and yet now we're going to spend even more on a keeper, I will have to be honest, up until a few days ago I had never heard of.

The crazy football world we now live in. 

It does bring on a massive case of double standards.

I guess when you aren't making big money signings you are more keen to talk NET spend. 

When you get the big guns it's more a party line of "it's not my money, who cares"

I have no shame in switching it up to suit either scenario 

[enigma]

I don't think it matters. Chelsea, for the longest time, have been abiding to FFP whereas everybody else goes out and splashes the cash. We have hardly made any £50m+ signings in the past few seasons. Morata being the only one. Liverpool didn't even sell a keeper to buy Alisson for that record fee and neither did City. We have been buying to sell for years now. I think we have the right to make a couple of expensive signings if we want. 

Liverpool can be let off for other expensive signings because they sold Coutinho for a large price. City on the other hand: 

Mahrez €67m

Laporte €65m

Mendy €57m

Walker €52m

B.Silva €50m

Stones €55m

Don't talk to me about us spending £71m for one player. Only other player we spent over £50m on was Morata. Oh Jorginho is another one. My mistake. Again though, we've sold Oscar, Matic, Costa, Courtois, Cuadrado, Ake for a combined £170m+ or somewhere around that area. Who have City sold? 

Edited August 8, 2018 by enigma

[evissy]

And we need to. There is no chance of 'We don't buy expensive players' routine if we want to stay where we are. 

[doctorblue]

2 minutes ago, evissy said:

And we need to. There is no chance of 'We don't buy expensive players' routine if we want to stay where we are. 

We're not hypocrites like Klopp...

[the special one]

I don't think the fee is too big of a deal, we've already halved the fee by selling Courtois and Bulka may be worth £20m+ in a few years.

Edited August 8, 2018 by the special one

[icecoolguy22]

Be an outstanding signing once we make this official. He's the second best GK for Spain, Madrid's first choice before this Courtois business,  at his age there's plenty of room for improvement. We will pay a huge fee, but that's exactly the statement the fans want to see, pay big money for top players. We'd expect to pay similar for Pickford, and they probably won't sell. To think we were rumoured with the likes of Reina, end up with Kepa is like winning a cup before the season kicks off.

[ForeverCarefree]

Crazy money but I'm glad we haven't gone out and signed Butland because that would have felt such a massive downgrade and given off a huge sign of settling for second best. 

This is a statement of intent as much as anything else. Huge risk signing any player for such a huge sum (see Morata) but he seems very highly rated in Spain, that Madrid nearly bought him in January for £20m speaks volumes considering their long standing interest in Courtois. 

Apparently he is flying to London this morning to complete a medical and sign his contract so we might get an announcement as early as this evening. Strange to think how quickly this deal has moved considering how quiet we've been in the market up until now. 

[Zola]

I will be honest I have never heard of, or taken notice of this guy. Probably because I don't watch Spanish football outside of the big two. 

Thankfully we have someone lined up, and Courtois can get to f**k

[Spiller86]

11 hours ago, dkw said:

How would we have gotten him for 17m exactly? He was ready to move to Madrid, but then signed a new contract so I'm not sure why he would have moved to us behind Courtois, who at the time was ready to sign a new contract apparently. 

I get the point your making and I'm perhaps being harsh on our executives.

Tibo may have strung us along on a merry dance about signing a new contract but it seems reasonable from all reports that this was always a risk, particularly when he haulted negotiations until the end of the season in Jan.

In that case, why weren't we managing that risk by looking at a new 'keeper then or why are we now only responding with three days to go before the opening game. We'll have a new keeper who doesn't speak the same language as any of the centre backs or the coach.

I'm happy with Kepa make no mistake, he's no Courtois yet but he could be. We've also secured Kovacic which is great. I just wonder how we can make this easier on ourselves. We seem to forever do things the hard way when some forethought could save us millions and put us in a better position. 

This summer we could have had a coach in place in June if we paid the Sarri buyout clause. We could have also had a 'keeper for a full preseason to learn the language and the system. 

[Gol15]

We need to spend a lot of money on him because otherwise we look like Spuds with no real winning mentality.This kid Kepa is for the future, big fee now but we don't need to worry about that position for the next 10-13 years.

Real Madrid wanted him at one point and we should feel pretty lucky that the people in Bilbao were open for this deal in the first place.

[RMCM]

1 minute ago, Gol15 said:

We need to spend a lot of money on him because otherwise we look like Spuds with no real winning mentality.This kid Kepa is for the future, big fee now but we don't need to worry about that position for the next 10-13 years.

Real Madrid wanted him at one point and we should feel pretty lucky that the people in Bilbao were open for this deal in the first place.

Let's hope he knocks up a girl from London so we don't have another Courtois situation

[Orpington_Blue]

4 minutes ago, Gol15 said:

We need to spend a lot of money on him because otherwise we look like Spuds with no real winning mentality.This kid Kepa is for the future, big fee now but we don't need to worry about that position for the next 10-13 years.

Real Madrid wanted him at one point and we should feel pretty lucky that the people in Bilbao were open for this deal in the first place.

That is what we said about Courtois 3 seasons back. 

Also City and Everton have got better keepers for less than half of what we are spending. The board has well and truly fecked up on this one.

Edited August 8, 2018 by Orpington_Blue

[Gol15]

1 minute ago, RMCM said:

Let's hope he knocks up a girl from London so we don't have another Courtois situation

Basque players are not known to be snakes, I already have this stereotype that Kepa will be loyal and won't have any Courtois-crybaby moodswings...

[dhidza]

Effectively, we have bought him for 31mil, considering Courtois is going for like 40mil.  Happy Chelsea are showing they are ready for the fight!!  Come on Chelsea!!!!

[Gol15]

2 minutes ago, Orpington_Blue said:

That is what we said about Courtois 3 seasons back. 

Also City and Everton have got better keepers for less than half of what we are spending. The board has well and truly fecked up on this one.

Courtois was never my favorite, after Cech I just didn't see him as that special.

City and Liverpool have a great keeper for less money, doesn't matter as long as we have Kepa that already at 23 has more experience because he got to play in bigger games for Bilbao.

[Snedger]

If this goes ahead I hope he's a good example of 'you get what you pay for'. It's not exactly a phrase that has often rung true around Stamford Bridge.

The most infuriating thing is that we have (had) a perfectly good goalkeeper and yet now need to spend £70 million on another one whilst upfront we have a £70 million striker who can't hit a cows arse with a banjo. Typical Chelsea, signing a player no better than what we already have in that position* whilst persevering with a hopeless player in another key position.

* I know that Courtois has forced our hand but still.

[icecoolguy22]

14 minutes ago, Orpington_Blue said:

That is what we said about Courtois 3 seasons back. 

Also City and Everton have got better keepers for less than half of what we are spending. The board has well and truly fecked up on this one.

Yes, United got a better GK than we are for 1/4 of the price, right? The board should have spent 5M on Joe Hart instead.

Seriously, either way it's a huge f* up.

 

[doctorblue]

Look at it this way...we spent £71m on Trig, getting £38m for PP so the nett cost is £33m spread over 10 years of service is £3m a year plus wages...not too shabby...

[Xfaxtor]

Its official, Atletic confirms that Kepa has paid oit his contract and is free to sign with whoever he wants

[Valerie]

2 minutes ago, Xfaxtor said:

Its official, Atletic confirms that Kepa has paid oit his contract and is free to sign with whoever he wants

Pleeeeaaaase let him have his last name on his shirt 

[ForeverCarefree]

Crudely translates to "Kepa pays the termination clause"

[Guest Sindre]

Great. Lots of money but it's refreshing to see us spend and get a deal done quickly.

Almost like a throwback to the early Roman-days where we just paid whatever was needed and got it done.

[ducavis]

Fans shouldn’t get worked up on the fee as the style of football requires a certain type of goal keeper. For all the talk about Pickford and Butland, they would have been a poor fit. I am very excited to see how he develops once settled, you could only argue that we could have got Allison for cheaper.

[Ashleyb66]

1 hour ago, Spiller86 said:

I get the point your making and I'm perhaps being harsh on our executives.

Tibo may have strung us along on a merry dance about signing a new contract but it seems reasonable from all reports that this was always a risk, particularly when he haulted negotiations until the end of the season in Jan.

In that case, why weren't we managing that risk by looking at a new 'keeper then or why are we now only responding with three days to go before the opening game. We'll have a new keeper who doesn't speak the same language as any of the centre backs or the coach.

I'm happy with Kepa make no mistake, he's no Courtois yet but he could be. We've also secured Kovacic which is great. I just wonder how we can make this easier on ourselves. We seem to forever do things the hard way when some forethought could save us millions and put us in a better position. 

This summer we could have had a coach in place in June if we paid the Sarri buyout clause. We could have also had a 'keeper for a full preseason to learn the language and the system. 

I appreciate what you are saying about the language but a keeper doesn’t take long to learn a system. Should be pretty easy for him to adapt with a few training sessions how he likes a keeper to play especially as they say he’s good with his feet and has played a similar way already 

[evissy]

Chelsea surprised with this deal. I'm so glad we weren't trying to get someone like Butland. We are known to have great keepers. That is something we have had all Roman era. 

Kepa is a young keeper and probably step or two behind Tibo but he will be great keeper I'm sure. 

Club stepped up for Sarri.