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What’s the story?
Real Madrid have been beating Barcelona to sign the Spanish wonderkids in recent times and it's happened once again. They are getting all the best young players in La Liga and are becoming a force once again!
As per reports today, Real Madrid's hunt for a goalkeeper has come to an end. The Spanish giants have agreed a deal for Kepa Arrizabalaga according to Marca. The goalkeeper is set to join them in January.
In case you didn’t know...
Kepa Arrizabalaga is a highly rated goalkeeper for Athletic Bilbao. He was offered a new contract by the club but he refused to sign it.
The new contract would have taken his release clause to €75 million and that's the main reason for him to reject it as per reports. Some reports even suggested that Bilbao refused to meet his wage demands and were only keen on increasing his release clause.
The heart of the matter
David De Gea has been the main target for Los Blancos but with Manchester United playing hardball, they decided to look elsewhere. The shot-stopper has been in brilliant form for Bilbao and thus the move comes as no surprise.
The only person who would be surprised by this would be Ernesto Valverde. The Barcelona manager was confident of signing him next summer but cannot do anything about it right now.
The Catalan side are more interested in signing an attacker and signing a goalkeeper is te last thing on their plans right now. The fans wouldn't blame them either as they have Ter Stegan and Jasper Cillessen in the squad.
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Author’s Take
Kepa Arrizabalaga is probably the best goalkeeper (Under 25) in La Liga right now. He has it all to become a club legend at Bernabeu but it will be interesting to see how he manages to reach the levels of Iker Casillas.
