9 hours ago, Droopy said:

Who identified Kepa? Must have been some sort of AI that plays the very long game that the human eyes can't detect. 

Think his name is Stevie Wonder

5 hours ago, JM7 said:

Admittedly I did see it on Twitter so it could have been false. Plus I don’t know much about Mendy. 
 

It just seems odd that we’re not going for a world class keeper and settling for a stop gap. I get that there might not be a world class keeper available though. 
 

It is a difficult situation so I won’t be too critical. 

Goalkeepers are a tough breed to judge. For example, Neuer, he was undiscovered and wasn't really highly rated until that Schalke vs United game

Don't we have a promising youngsters in our own U-23 / Reserves? 
 

On 06/09/2020 at 08:48, Droopy said:

Who identified Kepa? Must have been some sort of AI that plays the very long game that the human eyes can't detect. 

Who identified the Spain number 2 and a keeper generally considered one of the best young keepers in world football? That keeper? The one the majority on this forum were really happy to have signed (if not everyone)? That keeper? 

I find it a little perplexing that we are after Mendy and after listening to the straight out of Cobham podcast he doesn't seem to be that highly rated especially in taking that step up to elite level however Cech seems to rate him so hopefully if he does sign he proves a lot of people wrong. However the perplexing part for me is we are not seriously linked with Onana who is younger & in my opinion the better all round goalkeeper , he has also put in a impressive performance against us at the Bridge & we have a history of signing players who have done well against us.

I think Lampard and Cech want to address the set piece and aerial issue as they may believe that is the biggest weakness we have defensively & if they address that through Mendy it would give us the biggest impact instantaneously. Other weaknesses such as getting caught on the transition can be negated from a tactical perspective but the priority for a keeper is aerial dominance. 

49 minutes ago, Imran_CFC said:

I find it a little perplexing that we are after Mendy and after listening to the straight out of Cobham podcast he doesn't seem to be that highly rated especially in taking that step up to elite level however Cech seems to rate him so hopefully if he does sign he proves a lot of people wrong. However the perplexing part for me is we are not seriously linked with Onana who is younger & in my opinion the better all round goalkeeper , he has also put in a impressive performance against us at the Bridge & we have a history of signing players who have done well against us.

I think Lampard and Cech want to address the set piece and aerial issue as they may believe that is the biggest weakness we have defensively & if they address that through Mendy it would give us the biggest impact instantaneously. Other weaknesses such as getting caught on the transition can be negated from a tactical perspective but the priority for a keeper is aerial dominance. 

Mendy would be a good replacement for Caballero I think, but im not sure about having his number 1.

3 hours ago, dkw said:

Who identified the Spain number 2 and a keeper generally considered one of the best young keepers in world football? That keeper? The one the majority on this forum were really happy to have signed (if not everyone)? That keeper? 

Yes

4 hours ago, dkw said:

Who identified the Spain number 2 and a keeper generally considered one of the best young keepers in world football? That keeper? The one the majority on this forum were really happy to have signed (if not everyone)? That keeper? 

Not everyone.

At least he will be a big presence between the sticks that will hopefully collect some crosses and show some range.

Will still be a bit of a question mark around the goalkeeper situation in my view but on paper at least he should be an upgrade. 

Interesting analysis of his strenghts/weaknesses. I also noticed after watching several of his compilations that worrying tendency to parry the ball back into the dangerous areas. As for not being good ball-playing GK and having a 52% passing accuracy, looking at comments below the video, it seems Rennes prefer to play long ball and rarely attempt to play it from the back.

Still, he is big, good shot stopper and seems confident when it comes to crosses.

 

8 hours ago, dkw said:

Who identified the Spain number 2 and a keeper generally considered one of the best young keepers in world football? That keeper? The one the majority on this forum were really happy to have signed (if not everyone)? That keeper? 

I incline to the belief he has the ability and world class potential, look how de gea was apparently no good at first then was considered the best in the world or one of, now he is mince again, keepers go through patches, I doubt kepa is done for his career, I would expect him to have a resurgence. 
 

To me it’s better to send him in loan for a year after what we paid and see if he comes good, too much of a loss to splash all that cash, sell cheap then splash again, people forget he was decent under Sarri, I wouldn’t call it curtains on him yet. 

1 hour ago, abramovich said:

Interesting analysis of his strenghts/weaknesses. I also noticed after watching several of his compilations that worrying tendency to parry the ball back into the dangerous areas. As for not being good ball-playing GK and having a 52% passing accuracy, looking at comments below the video, it seems Rennes prefer to play long ball and rarely attempt to play it from the back.

Still, he is big, good shot stopper and seems confident when it comes to crosses.

 

That is an interesting video and explains his strengths. I think he could be best of an ok and cheap-ish options. 

5 hours ago, WhiteWall said:

Not everyone.

Oh really...Guess who.

Quote

Really happy with this. I know the world is going to hell in a hand basket but you can't help being stoked when out of the blue Chelsea wade into the market and go large. I'd love it if we pulled off another major one before the deadline. Well done Chels, welcome Kepa

 

47 minutes ago, dkw said:

Oh really...Guess who.

 

Err, I don't think that's me. In 48 years of supporting Chelsea I don't think I have ever referred to Chelsea as Chels.

1 minute ago, WhiteWall said:

Err, I don't think that's me. In 48 years of supporting Chelsea I don't think I have ever referred to Chelsea as Chels.

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1 minute ago, dkw said:

Page 1.

Mmm Interesting. I think that may have been my son using my fking log in again. Thanks for that, I wasn't aware of that.

For the record I wanted us to sign Kevin Trapp or Jasper Cillesen around about the time that Courtois went and we signed Kepa. In truth I hadn't really heard that much of Kepa at that time, which my lad would know about being a semi pro keeper and more clued up on keepers generally.

Some epic stalking by dkw. I’m both impressed and terrified at the effort

1 minute ago, Frawdulant said:

Some epic stalking by dkw. I’m both impressed and terrified at the effort

Ha ha, I only noticed because I wanted to check what I had written to make sure I wasn't being a daft sod....😅

4 minutes ago, dkw said:

Ha ha, I only noticed because I wanted to check what I had written to make sure I wasn't being a daft sod....😅

The irony for me is that my lad, who I think jumped on my account, actually doesn't rate Kepa either now. He believes there are technical flaws in his game relating to his starting position, where he holds his hands and a number of other keeper specific related elements.

Only seen youtube highlights obviously, but not exactly blown away by them.

Well if he can dominate on crossing and set pieces, that will be worth a lot extra points imo.

 Can’t see how his shot stopping can be much worse either.

I’d expect he is a stop gap and then we’ll be in for another keeper over the next few years. Expect a few mistakes playing out from the back but as long as he stops goals it’ll more than make up for it. 

Kepa is still young and  “form is temporary, class is permanent”. He may come good. Certainly he won’t get any taller but he might fill out and become more powerful. For me Mendy starts as no 2.