Chelsea ‘not giving up on Kepa’, confirms Petr Čech

Chelsea technical director advisor Petr Čech has basically confirmed what has been more or less obvious this summer, Chelsea will not be selling Kepa Arrizabalaga.

That may be more down to the fact there are no buyers for the World’s Most Expensive Goalkeeper™ — thanks to not only the finances involved but Kepa’s near Premier League-worst statistics — but Čech puts a more hopeful spin on it in an interview given to Czech media last week. And that’s probably not just diplomacy.

“Last season didn’t go so well for Kepa, that’s unquestionable. But the club invested in him and gave him a long-term contract because of a belief that he has the quality and the required attributes to be successful.

“While certain additions will be made to the squad, perhaps even at goalkeeper, no one’s giving up on Kepa. We all hope for a great future for him.”

Further complicating the situation is the pandemic, plus the fact that the new season is just a couple weeks away.

That said, Čech is expecting plenty of action in the remaining five weeks of the transfer window, even if much of that action might involve finding creative solutions instead of standard transfers.

“The issue of reinforcements is now very much alive. The transfer window is until the end of October this year, so there will be a lot of changes when the competitions are already running. And the question is how much the coronavirus pandemic will affect everything.”

It’s actually October 5 in England, so more start of the month than the end — though there’s an extra 11 days after that for Premier League teams to do business with EFL clubs still. Either way, the season will be well underway by then, which is never the most ideal time to do business, especially significant bits.

“Under certain conditions, large transfers may occur. But, I expect that there will be player exchanges and loans, and, I think in significantly larger proportions than in the past. The situation is very confusing and unpredictable in terms of economic impact on individual clubs. And it’s always changing.”

-Petr Čech; source: Sport

It might sound like we have a lot of time, but we have a lot of work that needs to get done still (and ideally before the season starts) — including at least a temporary fix for the goalkeeper position, which may or may not include Édouard Mendy from Čech’s former team, Rennes.