Report: Kepa Arrizabalaga Was Close to Signing for Real Madrid Before Chelsea Move

The report states that the goalkeeper had a €20 million release clause in 2018 and Real Madrid were prepared to meet this.

However, Zinedine Zidane was hired as manager and 'stopped everything' as he did not want to disrupt the relationship with Keylor Navas, who was the previous number one.

This led to Kepa signing a contract extension at Athletic Bilbao, eliminating his release clause and setting a new clause of €72 million.

When Courtois left, Chelsea turned to Kepa and met his new release clause to make him the most expensive goalkeeper in the world.

It has not worked out for the Spaniard so far at Chelsea as he was relegated to the back-up goalkeeper following the signing of Edouard Mendy from Rennes under Frank Lampard just two years later.

It is reported that Sarri wants to re-unite with the goalkeeper that he brought to Chelsea for a record fee and could look to bring him to Lazio in the summer.

According to reports, Chelsea are open to offers for Arrizabalaga, who they believe may deserve more game time than he is likely to receive in west London.

It remains to be seen as to what the future holds for the Spaniard, but going into a World Cup year, Kepa could look to earn regular first team football elsewhere.