Chelsea have this morning completed the formalities with Athletic Bilbao to sign goalkeeper Kepa after Stamford Bridge officials flew to Spain yesterday.
He is now heading to London and will be announced as a Chelsea player before tomorrow’s 5pm deadline and will sign a five-year contract.
He will join Chelsea as the most expensive goalkeeper in history and replace Thibaut Courtois, who will join Real Madrid for £35m.
He could even make his debut when Chelsea face Huddersfield on the opening weekend of the Premier League season.
Maurizio Sarri spoke about the 23-year-old after Chelsea’s friendly against Lyon last night.
“I saw him one year ago,” he said.
“My first impression was that he is a very good goalkeeper, very young, but very, very good.”
Chelsea have moved quickly to secure the signing of Kepa, who has one Spain cap, after Courtois made it clear he wanted to go.
Chelsea transfer news: Chelsea have paid Kepa’s release clause to sign the goalkeeper (Image: GETTY)
Chelsea transfer news: Kepa was in the Spain squad for the World Cup (Image: GETTY)
Courtois was due back in London on Sunday for the Community Shield but went AWOL and missed two days of training this week.
He will now be allowed to leave Chelsea for Madrid, where his two children live.
Courtois expressed a desire to move on during the World Cup, speaking after the third place play off with England.
And now he looks to be getting his wish and could arrive in Madrid today to complete the transfer.
Courtois has agreed a six-year deal with the European champions after spending four seasons in the Chelsea side and three on loan at Atletico Madrid.
Chelsea transfer news: Thibaut Courtois is set to join Real Madrid on a six-year deal (Image: GETTY)
Chelsea transfer news: Thibaut Courtois will leave Chelsea after seven years (Image: GETTY)
Chelsea looked at their options to replace the Belgium star after failing to sign Alisson from Roma.
Jack Butland, Kasper Schmeichel and Jan Oblak were linked but Chelsea have gone all in for Kepa.
They have been able to pay such a high price because they are due to get Mateo Kovacic on loan as part of the Courtois deal.
Chelsea had been budgeting to bring in a goalkeeper and a midfielder but with no outlay to bring Kovacic in they have been able to spend big on Kepa.
Although Chelsea are in talks to sign Nabil Fekir from Lyon in a deal that could be worth £55m.
Chelsea transfer news: Mateo Kovacic is set to join Chelsea on loan (Image: GETTY)
Shaka Hislop backed the move last night, believing Kepa could become an even more consistent performer than Courtois.
“In Kepa, they’ve got a wonderful shot-stopper,” former Newcastle, West Ham or Portsmouth shot-stopper Hislop told ESPN FC.
“Quite clearly given his age, 23 years old, he’s going to be 24 in a couple of months – they’re thinking long term and understandably so.
“In terms of shot-stopping, I don’t feel they’ve lost a lot in terms of who they’re losing in Thibaut Courtois.
“I’m not sure Kepa is as strong in the air as Thibaut Courtois was – no disrespect there, that’s quite easy to do.
“But they have somebody who I think you can expect a better consistency from.
“As good as Thibaut Courtois was, I just feel over the last two years you’ve heard two much from him about a move away and I don’t think you’ve seen the consistency in form that you expect from a goalkeeper of his quality.
“As much as you say Kepa’s only played the last few seasons, Ederson and Alisson had even less first-team European experience to show before their big moves and nobody questioned that.
“Especially in the case of Ederson, who made the jump and was key to Manchester City’s success.
“This makes perfect sense to me. You’re losing a quality goalkeeper in Thibaut Courtois but you’ve got to be willing to take the chance because if it pays off, it pays off big and you can’t afford to simple take an easy option.”
Chelsea transfer news: Kepa is joining Chelsea to replace Thibaut Courtois (Image: GETTY)
European football expert Andy Brassell opened up on the difficulty of signing players from Athletic Bilbao.
“There are a lot of teams who have struggled to buy Athletic players,” Brassell told BBC Radio 5 live.
“If Chelsea don’t pay his release clause, then he won’t go.
“I guess the talks will be he needs to be convinced to join.
“Kepa needs to be convinced to go, but Athletic is a very particular club.
“It’s a very big club and one of the most successful clubs in Spanish football.
“He’ll have his family and friends around him and he decided to sign a new deal rather than wait for it to expire.
“It would be a real left turn for him to agree to join Chelsea even though it’s very difficult to sit and say no to it.”