Some rather bad news is coming out of Saudi Arabia. For some weeks we’ve heard that Al Ittihad, one of the PIF owned clubs spending big money in their league is keen on Kepa Arrizabalaga.
The Chelsea goalkeeper spent last season on loan at Real Madrid, but it’s proving to be a real problem to shift him permanently. The rumours that Al Ittihad were keen to buy him were a huge relief, and already had us dreaming of a world where the 6 year nightmare of the tiny, unreliable keeper and his vast wages were a thing of the past.
But today “Ittimania,” a Twitter account following the club, have put out he news that “Spanish goalkeeper ‘Kepa’ is out of the club’s accounts after the club’s new board of directors unanimously agreed on that.”
They add that they’re already moving on to other targets.
🚨🟡 #خاص: الحارس الاسباني 'كيبا' خارج حسابات نادي #الاتحاد بعد إجماع مجلس ادارة النادي الجديد على ذلك 🇪🇸❌
• الادارة الرياضية في النادي بدأت بالعمل على التعاقد مع حارس بديل 🧤 pic.twitter.com/6WWw2Eh9iT
— ITTI MANIA – اتي مانيا (@IttiMania) July 18, 2024
Back to square one with Kepa nightmare
If this is indeed true, it’s another frustrating blow to our summer transfer plans. While we’ve managed to have some success bringing players in, nothing major can happen until we’ve cleared the decks of some of our unwanted assets.
Kepa is top of that list – at this stage we’ll do almost anything to be rid of his huge wages, and this move to Saudi Arabia seemed the perfect outlet. With this over, it’s straight back to the drawing board in terms of finding somewhere to send him.
There are so few potential destinations for him, as we’ve seen over the last couple of years, where a loan to Real Madrid was the best we could come up with for him. Now that his contract is so close to an end, it doesn’t look likely we find another destination willing to pay us any money for him at all.
