Kepa's Start at Chelsea
Initially, the transfer was met with optimism from fans as Kepa was tipped to become the first-choice keeper for the illustrious Spanish national team. Maurizio Sarri named the young Spanish keeper as the club number one, making 36 appearances and keeping 14 clean sheets in his first season.
That first season was his best but it began to go downhill from there. Making 33 appearances, Kepa only managed to keep 8 clean sheets all season and the frequency of his errors were starting to mount.
The Carabao cup final incident sparked the beginning of the end for Kepa as he refused to come off the pitch when Sarri wanted to replace him with Willy Caballero in extra-time against Man City. Kepa refused to come off, much to the anger of his manager, and the Spanish keeper failed to deliver in the shootout as Man City claimed the league cup.
This moment became the highlight of his career with Chelsea, and it was hard to see a way back from that. After a poor start to the 2020/2021 season, Frank Lampard and the board decided to bring in Edouard Mendy from Rennes to compete with Kepa.
It became clear quite soon after that Mendy would become the preferred choice as number one goalkeeper. This decision became a significant one in the club’s history as Mendy helped guide Chelsea to their second ever Champions League title that season, under new boss Thomas Tuchel. Mendy was named Champions League Goalkeeper of the Season.