Kepa joins Real Madrid on loan from Chelsea

La Liga club, Real Madrid has confirmed signing goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga on loan from English football club, Chelsea.

28-year-old Kepa who was signed on a season-long loan deal by Real Madrid, will replace Belgian goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, who will be out for several months after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee during a training session last Thursday.

The Spain international who joined the Blues in a £71.6m switch from Athletic Bilbao in August 2018, is contracted at the Bernabeu until June next year. Kepa was also pursued by Bayern Munich, who are also looking to replace their injured custodian, Manuel Neuer, but Real Madrid moved faster to secure the contract.

A statement on Real’s official website said:

“Real Madrid CF and Chelsea FC have agreed on the loan of the player Kepa Arrizabalaga, who is linked to the club this season, until June 30, 2024.

“In his five seasons at Chelsea, he has won one Champions League, one Club World Cup, one European Super Cup, and one Europa League.

“This year, he has received the award for the best save in the Premier League for the 2022/2023 season.

“Kepa is an international with the Spanish team, with which he has been proclaimed champion of the 2023 Nations League. With Spain, he also won the U19 European Championship in 2012.”

It’s been gathered that Real Madrid’s coach Carlo Ancelotti initially favoured signing Sevilla’s Morocco international Yassine Bounou, but his club’s financial demands and his involvement in January’s Africa Cup of Nations weighed against him.

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There was also no consensus at the Bernabeu over a move for David de Gea who left Manchester United this summer.

Kepa, who holds the honor of being the most expensive goalkeeper in history after the 80 million euros that Chelsea paid Athletic for him, arrives at Real Madrid with the very complicated task of replacing the man considered by many to be the best goalkeeper in the world.