Kepa Arrizabalaga’s move to Real Madrid this month unlikely after injury discovery
By Ben Sundock
Real Madrid‘s attempt to sign up-and-coming goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga this month looks to be delayed as the Madrid medical staff have discovered a serious injury to the 23-year-old’s foot. Here are the details.
It looked like Los Blancos were finally going to sign a new keeper after nearly three years of rumors and discussion. Kepa was supposed to come over from Atheltic Bilbao this month and be the next superstar goalkeeper in the Spanish capital.
After a medical test conducted by the Real Madrid medical staff last week, that transfer is likely to be delayed until the summer after it was discovered that Kepa might need foot surgery within the next few weeks.
According to Onda Cero and AS, the Spanish international has been recommended surgery to repair the second metatarsal of his right foot. The recovery from a surgery like this could be as long as three months rendering the addition of Kepa useless for Madrid for the remainder of the season.
Therefore, it would be in their best interest to either agree to terms with Kepa and Bilbao now and wait to make the transfer in June, or, wait and see how he performs following the surgery then move to reach an agreement come the summer.
Kepa has said that he wants to be on the Spanish national team in Russia for the 2018 World Cup which could result in him delaying the surgery until after the competition. How it is possible to play goalie with a broken bone in your foot is beyond me.
There are contrasting stories as to what exactly is going on between Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao in regards to the 23-year-old. Marca reported a week ago saying that the deal was done with Los Blancos spending €20 million for Kepa. The story went on to say that Kepa was in Madrid for his medical with the transfer set to be finalized before today.
However, AS reported that Kepa had already signed a contract with Real Madrid but it had two options for when the deal would actually take place. The first option was for the goalkeeper to make the switch this month, the second was for him to come over in June.
The arrival date was to be determined by the Real Madrid board.
Truly, there is little validity to either story as Bilbao manager Jose Angel Ziganda said late last week, “I have no idea if he did a medical, I don’t know what to tell you. Kepa was at [the club’s training ground] Lezama yesterday following his recovery programme along with [defender Mikel] Balenziaga. He didn’t go to San Mames. I don’t have any knowledge of a medical, no idea. He looks fine to me, he’s the same as he always is, conversations are as normal and nothing has changed.”
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Until either club makes an official statement regarding the transfer either happening or not happening, I am not going to look into these rumors too much. Only time will tell the truth.