The manager of the Blues, Frank Lampard has confirmed that he would not like to see Kepa Arrizabalaga as the first choice goalkeeper of Chelsea FC from the next season. Kepa Arrizabalaga was brought from Athletic Bilbao in the summer transfer window of 2018-19 season. The former goalkeeper of the Blues, Thibaut Courtois decided to join Real Madrid in the same transfer window. So, the club management of the Blues had to bring in a replacement at any cost.
No top-class goalkeeper was available at that moment. So, the club management of the Blues activated the release clause of Kepa Arrizabalaga which is almost worth £75m in that summer transfer window. Kepa Arrizabalaga did not have a bad debut season for the Blues. The star Spanish goalkeeper was able to keep 14 clean sheets in the previous season which was quite impressive.
The height was always an issue for the young Spanish goalkeeper and he used to overcome the height issue with his brilliant reflex. He became the first-choice goalkeeper of his national side. Benching David De Gea was certainly a big achievement for Kepa Arrizabalaga. However, things changed completely after the beginning of the new season.
In this season, Kepa Arrizabalaga has hardly been able to keep clean sheets. He has saved only 56 percent of the shots he has faced. He has the second-worst record amongst the goalkeepers in the Premier League. However, his transfer fees were the same as the top-class goalkeepers like Alison or Ederson. So, certainly, the fans are getting frustrated with his performance day by day. Even he conceded a bad goal at the crucial moment of the away match against Valencia.
As a result of it the manager of the Blues, Frank Lampard is not seeing Kepa Arrizabalaga as the long term option for the Blues at this moment. According to the sources, Lampard has already told the club management to find a better alternative for him in the next summer transfer window. However, Frank Lampard will not be involved in the transfer talk as he might leave the responsibility for Petr Cech who is a better man to get involved in this matter.
So, the future of the young Spanish goalkeeper is not looking very much secured at Stamford Bridge. The main problem of the Blues is not having a proper backup goalkeeper. Caballero is there as stand by the goalkeeper. He is not going to start every week and Kepa Arrizabalaga does not have a proper competition at his position. The performance graph of Kepa has been in the lower side this season. The confidence level of Kepa Arrizabalaga is an issue. The goalkeeper needs few good games at this moment to regain his confidence.
Chelsea will play against Bayern Munich in the round of 16 of the Champions League. They will certainly have a tough run of fixtures in February. It will be very much interesting to see Kepa Arrizabalaga’s performance at that time period. It will certainly be crucial in terms of his future at Chelsea.
