Kepa Arrizabalaga is a target for Real Madrid and for many clubs in Europe. The current Athletic Club Bilbao goalkeeper is one of the best players in this position in La Liga and he has still to renew his contract, expiring in June. For this reason, Los Blancos have shown their interest as they see the future goalkeeper of the club.
However, it won’t be easy. Historically, it’s very tough to sign any player from Athletic Club. The players are very attached to the club and they usually prefer to stay at Bilbao. We want to remember that Athletic Club only employ players born in the Basque Country, or at least raise in their academy or in the academy or any other Basque Country club.
This philosophy makes them a special club. However, some players decided to leave the club recently like Javi Martínez, Fernando Llorente or Ánder Herrera. Perhaps Kepa could be the next one, although he’s negotiating the renewal of the deal and, at the moment, he doesn’t want to know anything about any other club.
It’s been nine months speaking with the club, who made an initial offer very, very low. The club wants to include a release clause of €75M with a salary of less than €3M. The player, obviously, refused this offer and he wants to get paid much more. For instance, Laporte gets around €4M per year after Manchester City came to sign him. The goalkeeper is looking to get a similar deal.
Although Athletic Club is a team that pays very well to their footballers, Kepa could get a higher salary in any other club, including Real Madrid. Los Blancos have Keylor Navas and Kiko Casilla in the squad, but they are always looking in the market for new talents in the goal. David de Gea, Gianluigi Donnarumma or Kepa are the best options right now. The cheapest one would be Kepa, but would he be able to leave the Basque Country?
