Kepa deal should provide some goalkeeping stability

Morning.

A very quick Sunday blog. It looks like the Kepa deal is going to happen after David Ornstein posted about it yesterday (£), and in the same article James says the player is ‘willing to fight for his place’, but part of our interest is due to the fact he has been a solid understudy previously at Chelsea and Real Madrid.

It is, I suppose, a bit strange that the world’s most expensive goalkeeper is going to come to Arsenal to essentially be the number 2 to David Raya, but it also shows how big money transfers are precarious things. So often you hear about how a club spending big on a player is a show of ambition, they’ve really put their money where their mouth is etc etc. But maybe it’s just an illustration of how timing, market forces, the environment into which that player arrives, and perhaps a good dollop of hubris and/or stupidity play a major part in transfers and the fees paid (and maybe some under-the-table stuff that doesn’t get mentioned as much as it should).

We’ve been there, done that, and worn the t-shirt in the shape of Nicolas Pepe in the not too distant past. A signing that had everyone so excited in the summer of 2019, but ultimately we bought a player that Unai Emery didn’t want, and who turned out not to be to the taste of Mikel Arteta when he took over either. One stellar season in France catapulted his price into the stratosphere, we stumped up the big lump of cash, and while I think he did more in his time at Arsenal than people remember, it can’t really be seen as anything other than a bit of a flop all things considered.

Anyway, as I said yesterday, I think Kepa for £5m is a perfectly cromulent way to provide back-up for David Raya next season and beyond. And hopefully it’s a move that gives us a little stability for a couple of seasons at least. It feels like there’s been so much goalkeeping drama in the last few years. From the Emi Martinez emergence in 2020 and his subsequent sale to Villa; the initial ‘Him?!’ when we were linked to Aaron Ramsdale; then him displacing Bernd Leno straight away leaving a big money purchase on the bench who we sold for a pittance; Ramsdale firmly establishing himself and becoming a popular member of the squad, then we brought in Raya and he immediately came into the team at the Englishman’s expense; Arteta’s comments about how important it was to have two great keepers when he only ever intended to play one of them, and all the associated drama e.g TV cutting to Ramsdale on the bench any time Raya did anything; last summer’s pursuit of Joan Garcia where we were led up the garden path, leaving us desperately scrabbling to find a late back-up as well as a new club for Ramsdale which all happened at the last minute and left us with a number 2 goalkeeper the manager basically had no faith in.

And that’s without even mentioning Alex Runarsson. So, let’s hope that those in charge of goalkeeping issues at Arsenal are happy – or at least sufficiently content – with two players in their prime years, a pair of Spanish internationals too so they can do the Spanish bantz together on the training ground, and everyone can just settle down for a bit and let us concentrate on sorting out other areas of the pitch. Seems reasonable.

Until …

Right, that’s it for today. Have a fun Sunday.