KEPA TAKES BACK-UP KEEPER SLOT

SENSIBLE MOVE

David Ornstein dropped his first big story of the summer—and it related to Arsenal signing a back-up keeper… and that guy is named Kepa Arrizabalaga Revuelta.

The Bournemouth keeper had a break clause of £5m, and Arsenal have activated it.

Crazy… but he’s actually older than David Raya. At his peak, he commanded a £70m fee to Chelsea after some very good times at Athletic Bilbao. Things didn’t really work out there—he was pretty diabolical through a whole range of issues. He lacked concentration, dropped crosses, made poor passes, and some of the goals he let in were painful viewing. In the 2019 season, his save percentage was something like 55%, and he conceded 9 more goals than expected. The bad juju culminated when he told Sarri he wouldn’t come off in a League Cup final.

But… he’s rehabbed himself. His save percentage for Bournemouth was back up in the 70s this season, and he kept 8 clean sheets—that puts him in the 75th percentile for keepers in the league.

Here’s the thing… we’re getting a decent piece of equipment for a very low fee. Arteta was trying to drive a £25m signing last summer. We don’t need to put our resources into moves like that.

We just need someone that can look a bit like Raya if we need to rotate. Kepa can do that. He’s also young enough to try and fight for his place—and, according to many people, arrogant enough to 100% believe he’s better than Raya.

It’s a sound move that feels like it was made by the adults in the room.

I don’t have any emotions about this signing. I’m just glad it’s a permanent move, that it cost us next to nothing, and if the worst happened, we wouldn’t have to create a new system of play.

Great job, Arsenal. We move. x

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