Chelsea: Arrizabalaga has done enough to keep keepers off the transfer list

Chelsea have been linked with goalkeepers Andre Onana, Nick Pope and Dean Henderson. None close to being even a moderate summer priority.

Has Kepa Arrizabalaga had an underwhelming season? Yes. Has he warranted the criticism he’s received? Definitely. Does he deserve another year at Chelsea to prove himself? Absolutely.

Arrizabalaga has not been awful. He’s just not matched the expectations of the world’s most expensive keeper, nor the standards he set for himself last season. He was hardly helped by the comedic defending by his colleagues ahead of him, but there are some clear deficiencies to his game.

The Spaniard is non-existent when it comes to dealing with aerial balls, which makes it easy for opponents to overload the box with crosses from set-pieces and open plays. That ends with the ball finding its way past the keeper more often than not. It’s a tactic that has been on display time and again against him this season.

Moreover, Arrizabalaga is not the spectacular ball-playing keeper he was billed to be. He is merely competent with the ball at his feet. His best trait – shot-stopping – has been highly inconsistent this season, which has been the biggest disappointment.

That being said, it would be foolish to give up on him this early. Goalkeepers have much longer careers than outfield players and can be on top of their games even at an older age. It is entirely possible that Arrizabalaga could be a late bloomer, and should be afforded more time to prove himself.

Providing him with worthy competition could certainly help with that. Watching Willy Caballero start and excel ahead of the Spaniard for a few games, including pivotal matches such as the one against Bayern Munich, certainly lit a fire in the young keeper. On his reinstatement, Arrizabalaga bounced back magnificently with back to back clean sheets against Liverpool and Everton.

Lampard could stick with the experienced Caballero to keep Arrizabalaga on his toes but a younger, hungrier keeper could truly push the Spaniard to raise his game to the next level.

That could be achieved by giving chances to an academy graduate like Jamie Cumming or Jamal Blackman, as both are talented enough to warrant opportunities to impress. Blackman, particularly, has paid his dues with multiple loans and would relish the chance to prove himself in Chelsea colours.

However, if the club wants to truly challenge Arrizabalaga, they could sign another young keeper on the rise: Andre Onana. Ajax and Chelsea seem to have a good business relationship, so if the right deal can be agreed upon, Onana and Arrizabalaga would have a great intra-squad duel which will be the true litmus test for both their potentials.

The club must, however, steer clear of prematurely selling Arrizabalaga and chasing a high-profile keeper like Dean Henderson, who would unnecessarily eat up an already depleted budget. They must also avoid the opposite pitfall: making yet another mistake like the ones with Mohamed Salah, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku.

We live with enough regrets already.