£5m release clause means one Chelsea sale this summer almost guaranteed already | OneFootball

Chelsea’s goalkeeping situation has been a real theme of the season.

The Blues have had to drop Robert Sanchez for the second season in a row, Filip Jorgensen came into the team and made a big mistake, while Djordje Petrovic is looking good out on loan. New signings like Bart Verbruggen and Caoimhin Kelleher are being mentioned as potential summer reinforcements.

Nobody really knows what might come next.

But all that ignores another factor here – Kepa Arrizabalaga, on loan with Bournemouth and doing well. Scout Mick Brown has been speaking about the Spaniard’s progress:

“Arrizabalaga has spent the season on loan at Bournemouth,” he said in quotes picked up by Football Insider.

“He’s been doing really well there and he’s established himself as a major part of that side. From what I hear, he doesn’t want to go back to Chelsea, he’s happy at Bournemouth. He’s been able to get away from all the pressure he was under playing for Chelsea and just focus on his game and that’s been clear to see in his performances.

“I think playing under Iraola has helped him too, he looks more confident in that side. What do Chelsea do about that, though, because they want a goalkeeper and he’s only on loan. These things are never straight forward, there’s always different issues involved. The two clubs will have to come to some sort of agreement if he wants to stay at Bournemouth and Bournemouth want to keep him. But it will be up to Chelsea at the end of the day because he’s still their player.”

Release clause puts hard limit on Chelsea’s asking price

Kepa Arrizabalaga playing for Bournemouth. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

Kepa signed a new contract last summer which lowered his wage and added a reported £5m release clause to his deal. That means the amount we can get for him is capped at that figure, unless various teams start bidding above that.