Kepa Arrizabalaga has made clear that he has ambitions to play more minutes than in recent seasons, but he is not desperate to secure a transfer away from Chelsea. The Blues goalkeeper did not rule out the prospect of leaving on loan to secure more playing time and plans talks with Thomas Tuchel.
The 27-year-old joined Chelsea in a record £71.6 million transfer that saw the Spaniard sign a seven-year deal as the club endeavoured to find a replacement for Thibaut Courtois. Kepa managed to keep several clean sheets in an impressive opening run under Maurizio Sarri, where a Carabao Cup final dispute with the Italian manager would be the overriding memory despite a Europa League final win.
The glovesman struggled to cement his first-team spot under Frank Lampard the following season and, in the former Chelsea ace's second year in charge, was dropped to be the club's second choice when Edouard Mendy was signed. That did not change under Tuchel, who has trusted the former Athletic Bilbao star in cup competitions.
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Kepa put in solid performances throughout 2021/22 on his way to eight clean sheets in 15 matches and capably deputised for Mendy during the African Cup of Nations. However, there is little sign that he is on course to displace Tuchel's current preferred choice. Kepa's plan for next season? To play more.
The goalkeeper told Marca: "I have enthusiasm, ambition, desire to start, to enjoy and, above all, to play more. To be more matches on the field of play. In the end, the one who decides is the coach. What you have to give him are the maximum possible reasons for him to choose you. I like to train, do my best in each session, take care of myself and be ready when the coach calls me."
The goalkeeper has been linked with moves to the likes of Nice and Lazio, but it appears that a conversation with Tuchel will come before deciding to depart Stamford Bridge.
He said: "Right now, I am a Chelsea player, but what I am clear about is that I want to play more because I come from a year or two where, when I have played, I have had a great performance.
"For that reason, because of that good performance I had, the feeling is that I want more. I want to play more. I am at Chelsea, and I want to succeed here. And if it wasn't possible, we would analyse other different things because my clear objective is to play.
"I am not desperate. In the end, I'm at a great club. I'll talk to the coach, and we'll decide, but with the clear message that I want to play more."
Kepa appears to have a close connection with his former club. The Basque native has a number of close friends among Bilbao's current squad, and he did not rule out a move back to La Liga in the future.
He added: "Yes. In fact, these days, I have been talking with Iñaki [Williams]. We are good friends, we have known each other since we were little, and perhaps he is the one with whom I have the closest relationship, although I also get along with De Marcos, Balenciaga. Now they have elections, and they are very uncertain about who is going to be the coach or the president. I wish the best to everyone and to the new 'presi'.
"You never know. I have three more years with Chelsea, and in football, we don't even know where we are going to be tomorrow. We'll see what happens."
Tuchel acknowledged earlier in the season that a pivotal discussion with Kepa would need to take place. Honesty from both parties will be crucial
The German coach said: "We need to ask him, and we need to be honest with him. And he needs to be honest with us, this is the most important."
"It's always a thin line in these decisions, and there is never a 100% reason to go against Kepa because he deserves it, and we trust him. But this is such an obvious decision when you go for somebody [in goal] that you can't play the other person because there is no other position than goalkeeper. I think it will influence, of course, his feeling about it and how he sees it," Tuchel added.
"Edou is the number one and deserves to be the number one. I think it's also important that a goalkeeper at this moment of the season feels this moment like it. I experienced different at other clubs, and it was never really good if you have these open situations – a mistake maybe then leads to a new open race. It's too sensitive this position for it.
"We need to be honest first of all [with Kepa], and he has to stay fully involved like he is; yesterday in training, he was simply fantastic. Then he has to be open with us. For me, nothing needs to change as I like him a lot, and we need strong goalkeepers because it's a crucial position. But we need to reflect on it in the summer."
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