Kepa Arrizabalaga also on Maurizio Sarri’s shortlist at Lazio — report

Kepa Arrizabalaga may have defied him once very publicly by refusing to come off the pitch to be substituted in a League Cup final, but Maurizio Sarri apparently doesn’t mind that anymore and has put the Chelsea (now backup) goalkeeper on his shortlist at Lazio. Or at least that’s what The Oracle of Sarri claims — welcome back to relevance, Alfredo “Hot Days” Pedullà — in his run-down of what the new Lazio head coach might do now that he’s been officially confirmed as the boss of the blue half of Rome.

In addition to Kepa, Sarri’s also been linked with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and, less credibly, Marcos Alonso — presumably all three would be loans, at best. In fact, Pedullà adds that Chelsea would have to agree to a significant subsidy for Lazio to take on Kepa’s contract (to have him compete with another former Sarri-man, Pepe Reina, of all players), which makes this whole claim a bit silly, especially in light of Willy Caballero’s confirmed departure from Stamford Bridge this summer. Édouard Mendy may be great, but he still needs a backup!

New head coach appointments are always followed by links to former players. But while there might be something to the RLC rumors eventually, this Kepa business seems a lot more far-fetched at the moment.