Arsenal and Chelsea are bitter rivals in London and the Premier League. Nevertheless, in recent years there have been several controversial transfers, with Arsenal opening the door to players from the Blues. Now the Gunners have called for another sensational Chelsea signing.
Jorginho and Kai Havrertz pulled on the Arsenal shirt, last summer Raheem Sterling came on loan. Now Arsenal are going for what would be seen as a shock transfer.
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Some have commented that most things are “shock transfers” in our world, but when Arsenal are going to sign a goalkeeper from Chelsea, which is also seen as the London club’s massive signing blunder, then we use “shock transfer” with a clear conscience.
It is Kepa Arrizabalaga, the world’s most expensive goalkeeper. Chelsea stretched to £71.6 million to sign the Spaniard from Athletic Bilbao in 2018, the last two seasons Kepa has been sent out on loan to Real Madrid and Bournemouth for playing time. Because at Stamford Bridge there has been no future after repeated losses and very uneven performances.
According to Sky Sports, Arsenal have now made contact about a potential transfer. So why should Arsenal go for Kepa, when Chelsea don’t?
There are several factors that come into play. Kepa has a buyout clause of a “low” £5 million, Arsenal need to replace Neto as second goalkeeper behind David Raya, at Bournemouth there has been plenty of playing time and approved 39 backwards in 31 Premier League games (8 clean sheets) at Kepa.
Read on F7: “The most expensive Manchester United flop of all time” is linked to shock transfer
This means that the “shock transition” with this background is actually justifiable. Check out this double save from Kepa:
