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Football

09th Aug 2018

Kepa Arrizabalaga reveals how Pepe Reina convinced him to join Chelsea

The 23-year-old signed for Chelsea for a world record fee for goalkeeper this summer, but it might not have happened without Reina's endorsement of Sarri

Reuben Pinder

Reina knows Maurizio Sarri well

Chelsea had a busy end to the transfer window as they replaced Thibaut Courtois with Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Kepa joined from Athletic Bilbao for a world record fee of £71.6m – the second time that record was broken this summer after Liverpool signed Alisson Becker from Roma.

But it might not have happened had it not been for former Liverpool and Napoli goalkeeper Pepe Reina, who Kepa has cited as the reason that he decided to join Chelsea.

During his first press conference as a Chelsea player, Kepa revealed that it was Reina’s endorsement of Maurizio Sarri that persuaded him to make the move.

Reina played under Sarri for three years before moving on to AC Milan this summer, when Sarri also moved on to join Chelsea. Reina was deemed surplus to requirements by Liverpool in 2013, but proved to be an excellent signing for Napoli, as he was comfortable playing Sarri’s style of play, which heavily involves starting attacks from the goalkeeper.

Chelsea fans will be hoping that their new goalkeeper will show the same sort os suitability to Sarriball  that Reina showed at Napoli.