Arsenal officially welcomed Kepa Arrizabalaga to the club on Tuesday, 1st July. The Spanish goalkeeper was signed for £5 million after the club triggered his full release clause. Following an impressive loan spell at Bournemouth, Kepa will now don the iconic red and white for the 2025/26 season. He becomes the club’s first confirmed signing of the summer, with Christian Nørgaard and Martín Zubimendi expected to follow shortly. The 30-year-old is set to provide competition for David Raya, as well as vital cover in the absence of a dependable number two.
All things considered, it is a shrewd piece of business by Arsenal. The club have secured Premier League experience and quality for a relatively modest fee. Kepa arrives in strong form after his exploits at Bournemouth last season. Importantly, his low price allows Arsenal to allocate resources to other key areas, rather than spending upwards of €30 million on someone like Joan Garcia. It is a sensible move, but one that inevitably draws attention to the increasing number of deals between Arsenal and Chelsea.
Arsenal’s Chelsea transfer trend continues
Kepa’s signing means the Gunners have now acquired a Chelsea player in each of the last four consecutive seasons, spanning just two and a half years. Jorginho’s £12 million arrival in early 2023 was followed six months later by Kai Havertz, who joined in a deal worth close to £65 million. The ill-fated loan signing of Raheem Sterling came in the summer of 2024, and now Kepa completes the latest move.
Critics and internet trolls have been quick to brand Arsenal a “dumping ground” for Chelsea cast-offs. However, only Sterling failed to make an impact in North London. Jorginho and Havertz proved valuable contributors, despite scepticism at the time of their arrivals.
Kepa can be a valuable addition under Arteta
In my view, Kepa could become an excellent addition. His ball-playing ability and sharp reflexes are well-suited to Mikel Arteta’s tactical demands. Should he get the nod over Raya at any point, he has the skillset to perform at the highest level. His presence will only raise standards in training and matchday squads alike.
Still, the ongoing reliance on players from Stamford Bridge does raise questions. Is it a coincidence, or the start of an unhealthy transfer pattern?
What do you think, Gooners? Should Arsenal continue to do business with Chelsea?
Benjamin Kenneth
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I think Kepa and Havertz were good business. I thought Jorginho was good as well at the time but it was very clear he was way past his best. Kai has his critics and rightfully so, but he’s a good player unfairly maligned much of the time.
Not a fan of the move for Madueke if it’s true. He isn’t going to get in ahead of Saka, is too good to sit on the bench, and doesn’t want to play LW so I don’t see where the value is. Also, I just don’t think he’s that good. Certainly not an upgrade on Martinelli in my opinion.
Madueke is losing the internal competition for the RW position at Chelsea against Neto and Estevao, but maybe he’ll find a new motivation to usurp Saka at Arsenal
If he costs lower than £40m, I think he’d be worth the gamble since he’s a homegrown young player
Otherwise, I’d prefer Berta to search for a hidden gem in South America, as Edu did with Martinelli
Ben i never understand you people. What do you mean he is too good to sit on the bench?
The word is quality depth and rotation, why would a true fan be mourning at the prospect of having a player on the bench who can inject the same energy as the starting 11.
4th go back more william, luiz extra 10 points a season cech gallas lets b honest kai is poor where dose he play with a new CF jorginho was weak old & very very drunk sorry slow
First, Kepa will not be wearing the iconic red and white since he is a GK.
I’m overjoyed at this signing, I’m distributing To’ak chocolates to my colleagues at work!
How about looking over and signing Maresca next season?
Will it be Agent Kepa or Bournemouth’s Kepa only time will tell. Ireola and Arteta’s football mentality are poles apart .
With 2 months of the transfer window open, there’s Noni, Mudryk, Nkunku all available, throw some cash that CFC demands and lets get their boys. Why waste money on Gyko or Isaac when somebody is willing to cross the divide while CFC can dance all the way to the bank. We should be good helping neighbors.
Kepa for 5 grand, good business and that keeps Raya happy too. Everybody wins here.
Welcome Kepa.
Kepa is, without doubt the top value for money recruit from Chelsea, and may prove to be a real threat to Raya’s position as our first choice keeper.
It’s not really a question of numbers, is it, but quality.
The latest, Kepa, looks (as far as anyone can tell, as he hasn’t kicked a ball/made a save yet) to be a pretty “good” buy. That said, I don’t think it’s a case of Arsenal has a £71m keeper for £5m etc. – the much higher figure was realised seven years ago.
As for the other fairly recent acquisitions, I’d have both Jorginho and Havertz down as “reasonable” buys, taking into account their performance (and respective fees/salaries). Sterling wasn’t a success as it turned out, but his was only a loan so it’s probably not fair to compare.
I think that the bottom line is in their performance on the pitch, and overall “value” to Arsenal.
Arsenal Women key player when crowned 2024/25 Champions of Europe the #18 CHLOE KELLY re/signed for Arsenal in fact turning her loan spell into a permanent employment. She grew up in the Arsenal Academy. Cheers!
We should sign any player who adds value to team according to our needs irregardless of whether they play for Chelsea or not.
💯
True
From the surfeit of the rich then the poor eventually benefit. It’s a rational trickle down economics. 4 is a small number in consideration of the crossroads Chelsea are found at present. They see a lot they buy a lot they sell a lot even without mentioning the loan outs. We ought to capitalise on their confusions. A certain years back it was Man City who were benefiting from Arsenal who in fact helped City to be a force to be reckoned with. We were the givers and Man City the takers. Chelsea of course recently snatched some players from Arsenal such as Neto and the Ukrainian. So it’s business as usual. Some even coined CHELSENAL for the symbiosis.
The trouble with “trickle down economics” generally is that you can die waiting. In a football scenario, it all comes down to the quality, or otherwise, of the “trickle”.
Kepa is a good bench-warmer for Raya, yes. But Havertz was brought by us to replace Xhaka and it occured he can’t play as a part of our midfield at all. You mention only last 4 transfers from Chelsea, while the history between us is longer. We brought some other ‘greats’ like Luis Diaz, Willian, Lassana Diarra and Yossi Benayoun. Out of 10 players who came from Chelsea this century half of them played poor for us.
Bigger question should be 8 GKs signed in 6 seasons ,”is that to much “
No doubt he’s a solid keeper as he proved last season ,but he’s hardly going to play and you wonder why he would be happy to sit on the bench .
Not a signing to get excited about that’s for sure
Thats fact DK.
In all fairness, Kepa is not a bad signing and if class is permanent, then Arsenal could well have pulled off a coupe here
I hope/think you’re right, but I do wonder why Chelsea allowed a release clause in his contract at such a low level. It’s tantamount to conceding that a “straight” transfer of more than £5m wouldn’t be possible.
I don’t know why they had such a low release clause. But I wouldn’t concern myself too much with trying to figure out how Chelsea’s financial team thinks, they do a lot of weird things!
Kepa is a good signing. Arsenal now have two good quality GKs. Unless Chelsea have somehow been unfair in their dealings with Arsenal it’s not clear why it should be considered an inappropriate transfer. That Arsenal have taken other players from Chelsea is not particularly relevant.
The coming of Kepa would secretly unsettle Raya. They both know each other well even since their formative years in Spain. When Kepa was a world class & records beater no one was talking about Raya. Kepa is waiting for two or three howlers of Raya before dethroning Raya and cementing his position as a #1. I hope they’ve a cordial professional relationship. Arteta’s determination and ruthlessness to win trophies this season is now previewed by this highly competitive signing.
Noni to improve the bench, not upstage Saka.
With Noni, any future long-term Saka absence would be better covered. Plus, Noni could rotate in matched that Saka would need a rest. After all, we’ve been moaning about the huge amount of games that Saka has had to play in recent times.
And like Grandad said, a fee not above the 40m mark would be budget-friendly for Arsenal
This is the correct answer.
Their current owners have been on a clear out of players they had in the Squad when they took over so it’s okay to select the ones we think will improve us. Which Jorge and Kai have proven. Sterling (signed under their current ownership) was a loan signing who was only a reflex reaction signing on deadline day. Kepa will come good like Jorge and Kai.