Kepa Arrizabalaga, who became most expensive goalkeeper in the history of football when Chelsea acquired his services from Athletic Club paying off his release clause of £71.5million, earlier this month.
He brings quality to Chelsea which may well replace Thibaut Courtois between the woodwork for a long time.
Arrizabalaga has shown attributes that makes him a standout keeper at young age of twenty three, and those attributes were what forced Chelsea to splash cash to have him at the club.
Kepa made his Chelsea debut in the Premier League opening fixture against Huddersfield last weekend.
Kepa still has more to go, but he did put up quite of a decent performance against Huddersfield. Though he didn’t had much to do since the defence was bold enough to keep Huddersfield off their bay.
The luck meter dipping towards Kepa as well with couple of woodworks though it gave him that zero and that clean sheets was all that mattered.
Kepa looked comfortable with the most of the long shots. Also, don’t count out the perfect long balls, short passes and through balls he was doing to get the midfield and the attack going.
But was he really tested?
Nothing to take away from him and his decent performance, he still wasn’t up against a side where he would have to be on feet complemented by optimum focus. An eye here and there and the next thing you know that you are down by a goal.
Chelsea will come up against the mighty Arsenal this Saturday and Kepa Arrizabalaga will have to face the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Ozil, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Granit Xhaka.. you can just not stop naming them. Kepa will be tested against top attacking individuals and a mistake here and there, the young Kepa will have to deal with criticism that comes with English side of the game.
Many are comparing Kepa Arrizabalaga with Petr Cech for the legacy later had at Chelsea. Yes, that are the kind of hopes Chelsea supporters have with Kepa.
This Saturday, at Stamford Bridge, Kepa Arrizabalaga will face Chelsea legend Petr Cech and will certainly be looking for some tips to succeed at Chelsea.
One thing is certain, Kepa will be tested to his depth against Arsenal and he needs to be up for it.
