Fresh reports circulating online reveals just how desperate Chelsea were to make a statement signing as a replacement for Thibaut Courtois.<\/p>\n
The Belgian stopper went AWOL and forced his move to Real Madrid, and left the Blues stranded with no number one.<\/p>\n
After it became clear that Courtois really wanted out, Chelsea accepted Real Madrid’s \u00a335 million then made a record\u00a0\u00a3100 million bid for Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak.<\/p>\n
Having met the Slovenian’s release clause, the Blues were expecting the goalie to accept their offer, but Oblak turned them down, which prompted them to pay the\u00a0\u00a371 million release clause of\u00a0Kepa Arrizabalaga.<\/p>\n
Kepa’s move smashed the record transfer fee for a goalkeeper which Liverpool had broken a few weeks earlier when they paid \u00a367 million for Alisson.<\/p>\n
Kepa who is 23 is expected to remain at Stamford Bridge until he is 30 having reportedly signed a 7 years deal with the Blues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fresh reports circulating online reveals just how desperate Chelsea were to make a statement signing as a replacement for Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian stopper went AWOL and forced his move to Real Madrid, and left the Blues stranded with no number one. After it became clear that Courtois really wanted out, Chelsea accepted Real Madrid’s \u00a335 million then made a record\u00a0\u00a3100 million bid for Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak. Having met the Slovenian’s release clause, the Blues were expecting the goalie to accept their offer, but Oblak turned them down, which prompted them to pay the\u00a0\u00a371 million release clause of\u00a0Kepa Arrizabalaga. Kepa’s move smashed the record transfer fee for a goalkeeper which Liverpool had broken a few weeks earlier when they paid \u00a367 million for Alisson. Kepa who is 23 is expected to remain at Stamford Bridge until he is 30 having reportedly signed a 7 years deal with the Blues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-transfer-news"],"yoast_head":"\n