Kepa Arrizabalaga could be sold by Chelsea this summer if the right offer is made, with the goalkeeper's recent impressive form expected to have ramped up interest from suitors.
The 27-year-old, signed for a record £71million in the summer of 2018, has been second choice to Edouard Mendy since the beginning of last season.
But he produced two good stops in Wednesday night's scrappy 1-0 win against Al Hilal at the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, following on from a penalty save in last weekend's FA Cup win over Plymouth Argyle while Mendy was on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Chelsea have been impressed by his fortitude as much as form and how the Spain international rebounded from a series of high profile errors during Frank Lampard's time as head coach.
There is an acceptance that a player of Kepa's talent should be starting every week but, with Mendy assuming the title of the world's best goalkeeper in the past 12 months, Chelsea have a selection dilemma that has no answer that can leave all parties satisfied.
That could open the exit door for Kepa, who is content at Stamford Bridge, to depart in the summer. He is under contract until the summer of 2025 and while Chelsea are not in a rush to offload him they would consider an offer that makes financial sense.
Kepa is not even guaranteed to start in Saturday's Club World Cup final against Palmeiras. Mendy linked up with his clubmates yesterday morning and trained as normal today.
A decision on who starts between the posts will likely be made after the squad's final training session tomorrow evening.
Thomas Tuchel remains hopeful of being able to join the squad on Saturday.
The head coach was having a PCR test today. If it returned a negative result, and he provided the same again tomorrow, there would be enough for him to get to the UAE ahead of Saturday evening's game.
But he would also need to provide a third negative test upon landing in the emirate and briefly quarantine in his hotel room until a result is received.
