Chelsea have drawn strong links to Ajax goalkeeper, Andre Onana for obvious reasons.
Kepa has been spiteful form this season and his future could very well be in question with a new number one coming in. Frank Lampard wants Onana but his demand is likely to be denied by director, Marina Granovskaia. Such a scenario is nothing new at West London. We have seen countless managers leave over transfer disagreements in the past.
Marina had sanctioned the £71.6 million move for Kepa in the summer of 2018 and will be unwilling to take a considerable loss on him. Kepa’s stock has plummetted across his two seasons at the Bridge. And in this time of crisis, it will be difficult to find a buyer who will meet his last transfer fee. Chelsea will have to resort to a quick sale at a rather shocking discounted price.
“Chelsea would have to sell Kepa, Tottenham would have to let their goalkeeper go, Barcelona would have to sell [Marc Andre] Ter Stegen,” Duncan Castles said on the Transfer Window podcast. “That’s in none of those teams’ plans, they’re not actively trying to move their goalkeeper on, with the exception you could argue of Chelsea where you have Frank Lampard who hasn’t got faith in Kepa and I think would be open to letting Kepa go if a buyer can be taken.
“But that is a potential point of conflict with Marina Granovskaia who of course sanctioned what remains a record transfer fee for a goalkeeper when they brought Kepa in as a replacement for Thibaut Courtois and would not like to be seen to take a big loss on the player.
“Onana’s stance is I’m told pretty relaxed because he has a contract that runs for just two more years. He would be open to leaving this summer were one of those clubs, or if another top-level European club were to come in with an interesting offer. But he’s in no rush to do so, he’s in a strong position in a sense that with two years left on his contract he can take the path of allowing the contract to run down with a view of moving as a free agent in 2022, or wait and see if a big club comes in with an offer in the medium term.
“Obviously by next summer the kind of fee that Ajax would be able to request for the player would be even further diminished, which would allow Onana to secure a bigger salary wherever he goes to.”