Chelsea star close to joining Premier League side on loan but needs to sign new deal before leaving - Reports
Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga is reportedly set to join Bournemouth on a season-long loan deal. The Spaniard will, however, sign a new contract at Stamford Bridge first.
Kepa arrived at the west London club from Athletic Club in 2018 for a reported fee of €80 million. He is still the most expensive goalkeeper in the world. He had a decent initial spell but was soon replaced by Edouard Mendy as the first choice. He's made 163 appearances for the Blues, keeping 59 clean sheets.
Kepa joined Real Madrid on loan last season after Thibaut Courtois suffered an ACL injury at the start of the season. He made 20 appearances across competitions, keeping nine clean sheets, but was soon replaced by Andriy Lunin as the first choice.
Chelsea are now keen to offload Kepa this summer as they look to trim their bloated squad. The Spaniard's current contract expires next summer. Hence, as per transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Kepa will sign a one-year contract extension with the Blues to avoid leaving for free next year. He will then join Bournemouth on a season-long loan.
Enzo Maresca on his half-time talk during Chelsea's win over Wolves
The Blues hammered Wolverhampton Wanderers 6-2 at the Molineux Stadium in the Premier League on Sunday, August 25. Both sides came into the game on the back of opening-day defeats against Manchester City and Arsenal respectively.
Nicolas Jackson opened the scoring for Chelsea in the second minute before Matheus Cunha equalised in the 27th minute. Cole Palmer restored his side's lead in the 45th minute but Wolves equalised in first-half stoppage time via Jorgen Strand Larsen.
After the game, manager Enzo Maresca revealed what he said to his side during the half-time. He said (via Chelseafc.com):
"I said in a delicate way we needed to be more accurate. We started the first 15 minutes very good. We scored a goal and we had two or three more chances. Then we started to lose easy balls, and when you lose easy balls you concede counter-attacks, set-pieces, and you lose confidence. This happened the other day against Servette.
"I just said to play the way we want to play we need to be a little bit more accurate. We can lose the ball if they press us very intensely, but we cannot lose the ball by giving it away by making the wrong decision. The difference between the first half and second half was being more accurate."
Chelsea came out swinging in the second half as Noni Madueke scored a 14-minute hat-trick, with three assists from Cole Palmer. Joao Felix then completed the scoring in the 80th minute via an assist from former Wolves forward Pedro Neto.