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English club Bournemouth, managed by Spaniard Andoni Iraola, has obtained the loan of Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga for the 2024-2025 season from Chelsea, the ‘Cherries’ announced on Thursday.
The 29-year-old became Chelsea’s most expensive ever goalkeeper when the Blues paid his 80 million euro ($89 million) buy-out clause in 2018 to his former club Athletic Bilbao.
He started as a starter in goal at Stamford Bridge, lost his place to Senegalese Edouard Mendy and returned to the starting line-up later.
The Basque has played nearly 100 Premier League matches for the London club. His honours as a ‘Blue’ include a Champions League, a Club World Cup, a Europa League and a European Super Cup.
Last season, Kepa was loaned to Real Madrid to replace Belgian Thibaut Courtois, who suffered a serious injury. In the end, coach Carlo Ancelotti preferred Ukrainian Andriy Lunin as first choice goalkeeper.
Chelsea have thus reduced their squad on the eve of the closing of the English off-season transfer window, a necessity given the large number of players under contract.
In the goalkeeping position alone, Chelsea have the Spaniard Robert Sánchez, the Serbian Djordje Petrovic and the Dane Filip Jorgensen, signed this market.
Bournemouth, who finished last season in 12th place, have played their first games of the season with 35-year-old Brazilian goalkeeper Neto, who wore the captain’s armband in the last game (1-1 draw against Newcastle).
jta/gk/dam/an
2024-08-29 10:17:07