Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has revealed that being dropped from the Blues’ starting line-up earlier this season only motivated him to “work harder” to regain his place.
The 25-year-old goalkeeper has outlined his ambitions to “win everything with Chelsea” while insisting that he still enjoys the full “confidence” of manager Frank Lampard.
Chelsea splashed out a world-record fee of £72 million ($90m) to bring in Kepa from LaLiga side Athletic Club in the summer of 2018, after seeing first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois complete a move to Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Although Kepa hasn’t quite been able to justify his huge price tag in England since his arrival at Chelsea there have been signs of promise. With his performances called into question on several occasions this campaign amid the sporadic form for Chelsea in the Premier League, there have been doubts over whether Kepa would be able to retain his first-choice spot between the posts.
Lampard was forced to drop Kepa in January and favoured back-up shot-stopper Willy Cabellero instead as the Argentine started five of Chelsea’s last seven matches before the coronavirus forced the suspension of the campaign.
However, Kepa was able to force his way back into Chelsea’s starting line-up at the beginning of March, recording clean sheets in an FA Cup win over Liverpool as well as a 4-0 top-flight victory against another Merseyside club, Everton.
Kepa still remains fully focused on his duties at Stamford Bridge despite his struggles in 2020 under Lampard and says there is no rift between him and the English head coach, who has always shown a great level of trust in his abilities as a goalkeeper.
With speculation surrounding his future, Kepa spoke to Marca and said, “The relationship with Frank is very good. He has shown me confidence from the first moment. He must make decisions, but I feel I have his confidence, both his and that of the whole club. We all like to play in every game. It is true that, in the last 10 years, Chelsea is the English team that has won the most titles, and I think we should have that ambition. In fact, I came here for that and in the first season, we already achieved the Europa League. We have a young team. Then came the penalty of not signing players (the transfer ban) but you have to keep fighting for titles. I want to win everything with Chelsea and with the national team.”
