Latest Football News: Chelsea for Kepa, Dembele Shuns Arsenal as Pogba Delivers Ultimatum to Man United

Latest Football News
Latest news in the transfer market

The London giants Chelsea FC is on the edge of announcing the £71.8million coming of Athletic goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga after dropping his release clause on Wednesday morning. The Basque shot-stopper will become Chelsea’s record signing and the most exclusive goalkeeper ever, eclipsing the previous world record of £65m paid by Liverpool for Alisson a few weeks ago. The west London club has made a late dash to sign a new keeper after Thibaut Courtois decides to be absent from training, with the Belgian forcing a move to Real Madrid.

As the move for Alisson was negative, Chelsea quickly acknowledged Kepa as the ideal stand-in for Courtois and has decided to pay his release clause in full. According to Spanish newspaper Marca, lawyers representing Kepa’s agency, Bahia Internacional, turned up at the offices of La Liga in Madrid and officially paid his termination clause at 8.22am BST. Athletic have now confirmed the payment of the clause in a statement, adding: ‘Athletic thanks the player for his contribution during his time at the club.’

Kepa is now jetting into London to undergo a health check and sign his new contract with Chelsea. The Blues hope to have the deal wrapped up and announced later today, while Real Madrid, who have already agreed on a fee and private terms with Courtois, will then announce the Belgian’s return to Madrid.

Kepa, 23, is considered as one of the young talented goalkeepers in the world and was part of the Spanish squad at the World Cup in Russia. Unbelievably, Chelsea could have signed Kepa for just £18m back in January, which was his old release clause before he signed a new five-year contract.

The French boy Ousmane Dembele has determined he will reject any advances from Arsenal and wants to play for Barcelona for another season, according to reports in Spain. The France international endured a difficult first season in Barcelona after he was signed from Borussia Dortmund for £135.5 million last summer. The French boy Dembele has been linked with a move away and was reportedly concerned with Barcelona’s decision to sign Brazilian winger Malcom at the end of last month. According to reports, Arsenal is preparing £89m offer to sign Dembele before Thursday’s transfer deadline. The deal comprised of an initial £8.9m loan fee with an unavoidable £80m option to make the deal permanent next summer.

Dembele has held talks with Barcelona’s president Josep Maria Bartomeu and has said his mind about staying at Camp Nou for another season. Dembele also fuelled speculation over a probable move to the Gunners after he had dinner with some of Arsenal players last week, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Arsenal manager Unai Emery is keen for the club to recruit a new winger before the end of the transfer window, but the Gunners must send several fringe players to accommodate any further entries.

The Spanish giants Barcelona has been targeting Paul Pogba and has told Manchester United bosses that he wants a £200,000-a-week pay rise if he is to remain at the club, according to reports. The French playmaker is at the center of a late transfer tug-of-war, with both Barca and Italian giants Juventus keen to capture him away from Old Trafford having been alerted to his dissatisfaction at the club. Pogba fell out with manager Jose Mourinho several times last season, with the pair arguing over his best position, while he was not happy with comments the Portuguese coach made about his World Cup displays either.

Paul Pogba’s agent, Mino Raiola, presented an offer from Barca earlier this week which was rejected by United, and now The Sun reports that he has told Ed Woodward it will take a massive new contract offer to convince him to stay. Pogba at present earns £180k-a-week at Old Trafford but has demanded an enormous pay hike that would give him wage equality with January signing Alexis Sanchez on £380k-a-week.

Woodward is desperate to keep Pogba at the club, with the United executive vice-chairman having broken the club’s transfer record to bring the Frenchman back to Manchester. He has gigantic commercial value to United, and as such Woodward is considering giving into Pogba’s demands and handing him a massive new long-term contract.

Manchester United manager Mourinho is less determined to keep Pogba and has instructed Jorge Mendes to begin setting up a deal for Lazio star Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. Pogba, meanwhile, has told teammates at United that he would like to move to Camp Nou, though Barcelona will need to significantly increase their offer to convince United.