Thomas Tuchel believes Kepa can still rescue his Chelsea career
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel believes that Kepa Arrizabalaga can still rescue his career at the London club.
Kepa joined Chelsea from Athletic Bilbao in the summer of 2018 in a deal worth €80 million. He was signed as a replacement for Thibaut Courtois, who left the Blues to join Real Madrid that summer.
The Spaniard has, however, endured a difficult two seasons at Chelsea as his time at the club has been marred by numerous errors and inconsistent performances.
As a result, the Blues were eager to let go of Kepa and were willing to listen to offers last summer. However, they did not receive any offers that would have seen them recover the majority of the sum they spent to sign him.
Chelsea signed Edouard Mendy from Rennes last summer to replace Kepa as the club's first-choice goal-keeper.
Mendy's impressive performances have meant that Kepa has been a permanent fixture on the bench this season. He has played just four times for Chelsea since the Senegal international's arrival in September.
Thomas Tuchel's arrival at Stamford Bridge could breathe new life into Kepa as he will be given the chance to impress the new boss in the FA Cup on Thursday night.
The goalkeeper has, however, been advised not to try too hard to impress in his first start under the German tactician.
Tuchel said:
"He will play tomorrow, he will start tomorrow. And from outside, of course we had a view on his situation, and some difficulties on the sporting side. From inside I see a nice guy, I see a nice personality, an open personality, a hard-working guy, with obviously a lot of quality."
Kepa will be eager to impress on his first start for Chelsea under Thomas Tuchel
Kepa Arrizabalaga will be keen to impress his manager on Thursday as he looks to win back his place in Chelsea's starting line-up.
A run of impressive performances could also lead to a permanent move away from Chelsea next summer.
Tuchel continued:
'The situation for Kepa is the situation he finds right now. We didn't make a change in the first game and Ed was strong in the moment. So tomorrow is an opportunity to show and hopefully, it's very important for me to say this, he doesn't want overachieve. I want him to do a normal match tomorrow."
He added:
"He does not have to show me or anybody else tomorrow he is ready to be Spain's No.1 in the summer. He just has to show his quality. Not more or less. So we have to manage expectations because I don't expect him to score and keep a clean sheet. I just want him to help us with his quality and he gives a solid performance to help the team."