Journalist: Boehly personally stopped £150k-a-week player from leaving Chelsea, now Potter’s called him ‘fantastic’

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Todd Boehly reportedly stopped goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga leaving Chelsea in the recent summer transfer window.

Kepa, 28, is a player that most people have written off at Stamford Bridge.

The £150,000-a-week Blues goalkeeper spent his time under former boss Thomas Tuchel as the second-choice goalkeeper, but a change of management has worked perfectly in his favour.

He’s started all six of Graham Pottter’s matches in charge of Chelsea, keeping four clean sheets along the way.

The Spaniard’s latest contribution was a magnificent display on the weekend in the 2-0 win at Aston Villa, with Potter describing him as “fantastic” afterwards.

Boehly stopped Kepa leaving

According to well-respected journalist Fabrizio Romano, Kepa was “close” to leaving Chelsea in the summer to join Napoli.

However, the advanced talks never led to a completed transfer because Boehly personally intervened.

Apparently, Chelsea co-owner prevented the goalkeeper leaving because he preferred a permanent sale over a loan one.

“Kepa was actually close to leaving in the summer as Napoli were in advanced talks with Chelsea over a deal. In the end, Todd Boehly didn’t accept a loan proposal with buy option as he only wanted to proceed on permanent deal,” Romano said.

Road to redemption

It’s going to take more than just this purple patch of form before everyone starts rating Kepa highly again, but you’ve got to admire his courage and attitude to get himself back into the picture.

The recent trust installed in him by Potter is really showing with his performances on the pitch.

Described as “brilliant” by Mason Mount, Kepa needs to do his best to try stay level-headed.

It definitely looks like the 28-year-old has managed to iron out some errors in his game, and people will forget that he’ll have been working hard behind the scenes for a couple of years as Edouard Mendy’s understudy.

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