According to the Spanish club, Real Madrid has signed Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga on loan. Madrid acquired the 28-year-old Kepa after Thibaut Courtois suffered an ACL injury in training last week.
Courtois is expected to miss approximately seven months, so backup Andriy Lunin started Saturday’s 2-0 La Liga win at Athletic Club away from home.
Kepa was on the verge of joining Real Madrid from Athletic in January 2018, but the club ultimately decided to sign Courtois instead. Kepa then succeeded Courtois at Chelsea in a goalkeeper record €80 million ($87.6 million) deal.
The Spain international endured five challenging years at Chelsea. During his first two seasons, he was the team’s first-choice player, but he lost his position to Édouard Mendy before regaining it for the majority of the 2022–23 season.
Last week, Chelsea hired Robert Sánchez, Kepa’s counterpart in Spain, from Brighton as their new No. 1. Due to Courtois’s long-term injury, Madrid moved swiftly to find an affordable, experienced replacement.
According to ESPN, coach Carlo Ancelotti initially favored signing Morocco international Yassine Bounou of Sevilla, but his club’s financial demands and his participation in the Africa Cup of Nations in January weighed against him.
David de Gea, who departed Manchester United this summer, failed to garner consensus at the Bernabeu, and Kepa quickly emerged as the favorite.
He was close to signing with Bayern Munich but placed the deal on hold when Madrid expressed interest.
Ancelotti stated that he had “total confidence” in Lunin prior to Madrid’s league debut against Athletic but acknowledged that the inexperience of the other goalkeepers at his disposal could compel a change.
“I’m very relaxed. We must consider it,” Ancelotti said on Friday. The deadline is August 31. If we consider signing a goalkeeper, we must consider the statistics.”
