Garth Crooks has urged Chelsea to ditch record signing Kepa Arrizabalaga for Newcastle United’s Martin Dubravka if they are ‘serious’ about securing Champions League football.
It was always going to be difficult to live up to the £71 million price Chelsea paid for him in 2018, but being dropped for Willy Caballero at Leicester City was a new low for Kepa.
Speaking in his ‘Team of the Week’ column on BBC Sport, Crooks suggested the Blues should seriously consider replacing him with a ‘top-class’ option.
The London club have gone from having Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois – two world-class goalkeepers – to Kepa and Caballero, who both look like they’ve only recently been introduced to the game. If Chelsea are serious about a top-four place they need to get a top-class goalkeeper. They should take a serious look at Newcastle’s Martin Dubravka.
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I believe that although he’s still 25 with lots of room to improve, Kepa is deservedly the centre of a barrage of negative attention.
Following his latest appearance in Chelsea’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal, a long list of worrying statistics arose and they don’t reflect well on him.
In terms of save percentages, he is placed 127th out of 132 goalkeepers in Europe’s top five leagues, as well as producing the worst save percentage of any Premier League goalkeeper this season.
The Spaniard has also prevented the fewest ‘expected goals’ in the league this term and has been beaten six times from outside the area, more than any other Premier League stopper.
In my opinion, Caballero didn’t show enough against Leicester to justify stepping in for Kepa in the long-term though.
With that being said, despite his dismal form, I think Kepa should be rested over the winter break so he’s ready to return for the huge game against Manchester United next weekend.
