Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has labeled the speculation surrounding Kepa Arrizabalaga as “nonsense” but did hint that the club would assess the Spain international’s future in the summer transfer window.
Despite losing his starting place, Kepa remains one of the best shot stopper at Chelsea and the most expensive goalkeeper in world football history following his £72million switch from Athletic Bilbao in the summer of 2018. For the past four games, Lampard has preferred Willy Caballero instead.
Reports in the media have suggested that the player would request to leave Stamford Bridge at the end of the campaign amid rumors of a fall-out with Chelsea manager Lampard.
However, the Englishman has insisted that Kepa’s future at West London is still very much in his own hands and praised his reaction to being left out of the starting eleven.
While speaking ahead of Saturday’s trip to the Vitality Stadium to face Bournemouth, the 41-year-old Lampard told a news conference that he cannot keep everyone happy in his squad, “My relationship is fine, between player and manager. I have 20 or so players to keep happy and I can’t keep them all happy at the same time. All I expect is professionalism in training, which Kepa has given.
The ex-England midfielder also said that every player is in control of their own destiny, “The position is the same: you train well to try to get in the team when you’re not in it. When you play, you try to play at performance levels that keep you in the team. They are the standards we have to have at this club. Every player is in control of their own destiny to a degree with that and how they turn up every day, and Kepa has been training well. But Willy is also training well and has also been playing pretty well – he made some good saves against Bayern [Munich on Tuesday].
