Kepa Arrizabalaga wants to return to Chelsea next summer rather than make his loan move to Bournemouth permanent, according to MARCA.
The Spaniard, who is the most expensive goalkeeper in football history, is currently midway through a one-year loan spell at Dean Court, where he's been a key man for Andoni Iraola’s side this term.
He's started 10 of the Cherries' 15 Premier League games, six of which they have won.
MARCA reports that Iraola is now keen to make Kepa's move to the South coast permanent at the end of the season, but that the feeling is not mutual, with the 30-year-old shot stopper wanting to instead move back to Stamford Bridge.
The publication did not state why Kepa doesn't want to move to Bournemouth for good, but according to reports, he took a wage cut of around 50% when he first moved to the club in August.
Kepa joined Chelsea from Athletic Bilbao for a fee of £71.6 million in the summer of 2018, which remains a world record for a goalkeeper. His performances for the Blues since, however, have done little to suggest that he was worth the money.
In his second season at Stamford Bridge, Kepa recorded the worst save percentage of any goalkeeper in Premier League history, stopping just 54.5% of the shots he faced. As a result, he spent the next two years warming the bench, before returning to Chelsea's starting line-up in 2022/23 under Graham Potter and Frank Lampard. He again failed to convince, though, and has spent the last season-and-a-half out on-loan, first with Real Madrid and now Bournemouth. Though the Spain international now may want to come back to West London, there is no doubting that his career in Blue is over. Chelsea have no less than eight other goalkeepers on their current books, including Enzo Maresca's number one Robert Sanchez and promising youngster Filip Jorgensen. Sadly for the Kepa, he's bottom of the pile.
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