Chelsea ‘willing to spend €100m’ on Atlético Madrid’s Jan Oblak — report

No goalkeeper is perfect, but some are more perfect than others. And there are many more more-perfect than Kepa Arrizabalaga. Many, many ... many more.

Chelsea certainly could use an upgrade at the position, despite the world record amount spent on Kepa two summers ago. And while it wouldn’t take a world record amount to find a replacement, Chelsea may be willing to break the record again anyway.

That’s according to speculation from Spanish daily Diario AS, who claim that according to “sources close to the Blues”, Chelsea are willing to spend upwards of €100m on a certain Jan Oblak.

The 27-year-old Atlético Madrid goalkeeper certainly (should) need no introduction. He’s been a Chelsea target since time immemorial (in transfer rumour terms), but unlike his predecessors at the club, David De Gea and an on-loan Thibaut Courtois, he’s now stuck it out for six years with Diego Simeone & Co. And in fact, he’s signed multiple contracts along the way, the latest of which ties him to the club to 2023 and has a reported release clause of €120m.

What’s another €20m, right?

AS reference an earlier report from the Mirror that Chelsea would try to involve Kepa in this operation somehow, perhaps to make up the difference. Neither report is exactly one to bet the farm on, but they do seem to mesh nicely.

Obviously, Atlético won’t be too inclined to sell the (second?) best goalkeeper in the world, with or without Kepa thrown in.

Still, nice to see Chelsea’s supposed willingness to fix this issue by throwing more money at it — perhaps at the expense of a Kai Havertz — though we might have to look for an alternate solution, whoever that may be (André Onana? Dean Henderson? Etc.).