Chelsea are being linked with Unai Simon by Spanish rumour hub Fichajes.
Simon is a really good goalkeeper. Ironically he was one of the main beneficiaries of our our fateful decision to sign Kepa Arrizabalaga for a vast sum back in 2018 from the same club.
Simon was then thrust unexpectedly into the first team as a youngster, and has since racked up hundreds of La Liga appearances as a key player for Athletic Club. The Copa del Rey win on Saturday marks a great high point for him at his boyhood club, where he’s well on his way to becoming a fully fledged legend.
Mountain to climb for Chelsea
So he’s at his hometown team, winning trophies, being well paid for it and qualifying regularly for European football. We’re not quite sure how Chelsea are supposed to persuade him to leave that setup, even if we could ignore his vast transfer cost. Athletic’s Basque only policy means they spend very little on transfer fees, which in turn means they can spend huge sums on wages.
Unless Simon has a particular desire to come to the Premier League, we really can’t see how we would pull off a deal.
We would certainly love it to be true – Simon is a world class goalkeeper, while our current options are less than ideal. Djordje Petrovic had a solid start to life as a Blue but has started to show his youth and inexperience in recent weeks, and as always with a goalkeeper, that costs you points pretty quickly.
