Why Chelsea Will Still Need A New Keeper:: All Nigeria Soccer

September 10, 2020October 4, 2021 Stan

Kepa Arrizabalaga completed his signing for Chelsea FC in August 2018 for £70 million from Spain’s Athletic Bilbao. This transfer made Kepa the world’s most expensive goalkeeper in history.By signing for such a mammoth fee, there was always going be high expectations on the youngster. Unfortunately for Kepa, his time at Chelsea has been filled with ups and downs in his first two years.

In the EFL Cup Final in 2019 against Manchester City, Kepa had a cramp but still refused to be substituted off by then manager, Maurizio Sarri.

The duo exchanged some words during the game, and shortly afterward, Kepa was fined a week’s wages and dropped for their next league game.

This season under the new manager and Chelsea Legend, Frank Lampard, Kepa’s form has still been inconsistent.

In January 2020, Kepa was dropped in place of back-up goalkeeper Willy Caballero before returning to the starting eleven towards the last few games of the season.

With Chelsea’s very successful transfer window with the acquisitions of Timo Werner, Hakim Ziyech, Ben Chilwell, Malang Sarr, Thiago Silva, and recently announced German wonderkid, Kai Havertz; they are very clearly pushing to win some silverware this upcoming season, whether that be for the Premier League or the UEFA Champions League.

Having an unreliable goalkeeper makes it near impossible to feel confident in any team; look at any major trophy winners and have a look at the goalkeeper they have, you will find that most are world-class; Bayern have Manuel Neuer, Liverpool have Allison, Real Madrid have Courtois and Chelsea have Kepa, doesn’t sound quite right.

Kepa is the owner of the WORST save percentage in all Europe’s top five major leagues – the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1.

According to Footystats.org, out of a total of 98 goalkeepers who qualified for this stat – those who played more than 1,500 minutes – 97 of them have a total better save percentage than Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Kepa managed to keep out 55 of 99 total shots, a miserable 54.5%.

Just for comparison, Tottenham Hotspurs Captain Hugo Lloris holds the best record in Europe (80.2), with the likes of Poland and Juventus’ Wojciech Szczesny (79.1%), Madrid star Thibaut Courtois (78.9%), and also Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak (77.1%) all ranking highly.

His struggles have not happened on the domestic side, either. In the UEFA Champions League, his save percentage was worse – 50% – making him the lowest-ranked among every goalkeeper in that category in the Champions League this season.

Jarringly for Chelsea supporters, transfer target Andre Onana of Ajax sat second in that category, saving an incredible 85.7% of the shots he faced last season.

To put in perspective of how much he cost Chelsea last season, Chelsea lost or drew 37% of games last season in which they were leading in the last 3 minutes of the games, with all 37% being attributed to mistakes made by Kepa.

Not only did this cost Chelsea valuable points that wouldn’t have of put Champions League play this season in any doubt, but it also caused bettors across the country to lose millions in bets.

A report has shown that an average £10 bet backing Chelsea every game this previous season would’ve resulted in a net profit of £86 after 90 minutes.

In contrast, if those exact players had used the Coral Cash Out Guide and cashed out their bets in the 87th minute, profits would’ve been as high as £957 for the season.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : chelseafc.com