Kepa (soccer player)

Kepa
Kepa after winning the Europa League (2019)
Personnel
Surname	Kepa Arrizabalaga Revuelta
birthday	3rd October 1994
place of birth	Ondarroa ,  Spain
size	186 cm
position	goal
Juniors
Years	station
2004–2012	Athletic Bilbao
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2011-2013	CD Baskonia	31 (0)
2013-2014	Athletic Bilbao B	50 (0)
2015	→  SD Ponferradina  (loan)	20 (0)
2015-2016	→  Real Valladolid  (loan)	39 (0)
2016-2018	Athletic Bilbao	53 (0)
2018–	Chelsea FC	69 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals) 2
2012	Spain U19	at least 6 (0)
2013-2017	Spain U21	22 (0)
2017–	Spain	7 (0)
1 Only league games are given. Status: end of season 2019/20 2 As of September 13, 2019

Kepa (born October 3, 1994 in Ondarroa ; full name Kepa Arrizabalaga Revuelta ) is a Spanish football goalkeeper . He has been under contract with Chelsea since August 2018 after the most expensive goalkeeper transfer to date, amounting to 80 million euros .

Career

In the club

Beginnings

Kepa started his career at Athletic Bilbao . In 2011 he played for the first time for the farm team CD Baskonia in the fourth-class Tercera División . 2013 he made his debut for the second team in the third-tier Segunda División B . On January 5, 2015, Kepa moved to the end of the 2014/15 season on loan in the Segunda División to SD Ponferradina , for which he was used in 20 league games. For the 2015/16 season he was loaned to Real Valladolid within the Segunda División . There Kepa completed 39 of 42 possible league games.

Breakthrough in Bilbao

For the 2016/17 season Kepa returned to Bilbao and became an integral part of the first team. On September 11, 2016, he made his debut against Deportivo La Coruña in the Primera División . In the course of the season he was able to replace the long-time goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz as number 1 in the league , while this was used in the Europa League and the Copa del Rey . Over the entire season, Kepa made 23 league appearances, although he was also out for a few weeks due to injury.

In the 2017/18 season , after the departure of Iraizoz, Kepa was in the league and in the Copa del Rey, in which they were eliminated after one round, while his substitute Iago Herrerín was used in the Europa League . On January 22, 2018, he extended his contract to June 30, 2025, whose release clause, which had previously been 20 million euros, was now 80 million euros. In the league, the temporarily injured Kepa came to 30 missions.

Record change to Chelsea

Kepa at the 2019 UEFA Super Cup

For the 2018/19 season , Kepa withdrew his release clause of 80 million euros and moved to the English Premier League for Chelsea , making him the most expensive goalkeeper in football history. Kepa signed at Chelsea a contract with a term until 30 June 2025 was to succeed at Real Madrid exchanged Thibaut Courtois .

In the League Cup final on February 24, 2019, which Chelsea lost on penalties to Manchester City , Kepa, who had previously been treated twice for an injury, refused to replace Willy Caballero , who was already ready for the change on the sidelines, immediately before the penalty shoot-out . While the coach Maurizio Sarri , who was criticized because of the sixth place in the table at the time, described the action as a "misunderstanding", Kepa stated that at no point had it been his intention not to follow the instructions of the coach and he just wanted to announce that he could continue playing. Kepa received a fine and was pardoned after playing on the bench. He played 36 Premier League games in his first season. In the semi-finals of the Europa League , he saved two penalties in the penalty shoot-out in the win against Eintracht Frankfurt . The final won the Chelsea FC against the league rivals FC Arsenal for themselves, which Kepa won his first title at club level.

For the 2019/20 season , Frank Lampard became the new head coach of Chelsea FC. In the UEFA Super Cup , at the beginning of the season, the Champions League winners Liverpool FC were beaten on penalties, in which Kepa could not parry an opposing attempt. In the league Kepa completed all league games up to the 24th matchday, but was then replaced by Willy Caballero after weaker performances. He returned to goal on matchday 29 before the season was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Even when the game was resumed after more than three months, Kepa remained number 1 and played all games up to the 37th matchday. Caballero was back in goal on matchday 38, when Chelsea FC wanted to make it into the Champions League, and in the FA Cup final , which was lost to Arsenal. Kepa thus completed 33 league games. He only blocked 54.5 percent of the shots on his goal, which was the worst value in Premier League history.

In the national team

Kepa was with the Spanish U19 national team at the U19 European Championship 2012 in Estonia U19 European champion . He was used in four games. From February 2013 Kepa was active in the U21 selection . With her he took part in the 2017 European Under-21 Championship in Poland. It was used in 4 out of 5 games; only in the insignificant last group game Pau López was preferred. In the final, the team of the German selection had to admit defeat. Overall, Kepa was used 22 times for the U21 in just under four and a half years.

Kepa made his debut on November 11, 2017 in a 5-0 win over Costa Rica in the Spanish senior team . In the summer of 2018 he took part in the 2018 World Cup in Russia , but was not used behind David de Gea .

titles and achievements

• Europa League winner : 2019
• U19 European Champion : 2012

Web links

Commons : Kepa  - collection of images

• Kepa in the database of weltfussball.de
• Kepa in the database of transfermarkt.de
• Kepa in the database of bdfutbol.com (English)
• Kepa on soccerway.com
• Kepa on the Spanish Football Association website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kepa Arrizabalaga se incorpora a la Ponferradina ( Memento from January 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Kepa cierra la portería del Pucela , realvalladolid.es, July 20, 2015, accessed on May 1, 2018.
3. ↑ Kepa Arrizabalaga's contract renewal , athletic-club.eus, January 22, 2018, accessed on January 28, 2018.
4. ↑ Kepa pays the termination clause , athletic-club.eus, August 8, 2018, accessed on August 8, 2018.
5. ↑ After a strange course: Kepa becomes the most expensive goalkeeper in the world , kicker.de, August 8, 2018, accessed on August 9, 2018.
6. ↑ Kepa arrives at Chelsea , chelseafc.com, August 8, 2018, accessed August 9, 2018.
7. ↑ Kepa scandal shocks Chelsea: ManCity League Cup winner again , kicker.de, February 24, 2019, accessed on February 24, 2019.
8. ↑ Was Kepa "right"? Sarri before the end despite the master plan , kicker.de, February 25, 2019, accessed on February 25, 2019.
9. ↑ Merely "a misunderstanding": only fine for Kepa , kicker.de, February 26, 2019, accessed on May 10, 2019.
10. ↑ Sarri pardons Kepa, but leaves the time open , kicker.de, February 28, 2019, accessed on May 10, 2019.
11. ↑ Frankfurt fails very close - Kepa becomes a blues hero , kicker.de, May 9, 2019, accessed on May 10, 2019.
12. ↑ Kepa: Most Expensive Keeper in Crisis , sport1.de, February 9, 2020, accessed on February 27, 2020.
13. ↑ The most expensive goalkeeper problem in the world , kicker.de, August 5, 2020, accessed on August 5, 2020.
14. ↑ See the match report ( Memento of the original from November 16, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from sefutbol.com, accessed December 1, 2017.