Kepa's series of moves away from Chelsea
It didn’t cross anyone’s mind that Kepa would be favoured to replace the injured Courtois, and it became the end of his Chelsea career in August 2023. Real Madrid announced that Kepa would join on a season-long loan deal forcing Chelsea to sign Robert Sanchez from Brighton.
It started brightly for Kepa, as he made his debut in a 1-0 over Celta Vigo. A clean sheet on your debut for Real Madrid would be the perfect confidence booster for any player, but it would soon become apparent that Kepa would not be the preferred choice of Carlo Ancelotti.
After starting in goal for his first 13 games, Kepa suffered an abductor injury meaning a spell on the sidelines. Upon recovery of his injury, the Spaniard had lost his place to Andriy Lunin. Kepa would only play in 7 more games for Real Madrid and would not be returning to the Spanish capital.
In his 20 appearances for Real Madrid, Kepa made 9 clean sheets and conceded an average of 1.7 goals per game played. For a club who are considered the greatest in the world, these are not the stats that would entice a permanent signing.
With Courtois regaining his place in the Madrid side, Kepa would return to Chelsea and have to look elsewhere for game time. Chelsea were satisfied with their goalkeeping roster, with Robert Sanchez replacing Djordje Petrovic as number one, and Filip Jorgensen arriving from Villareal to provide back up. Kepa was at a loss, until a former teammate came to his rescue.
At Athletic Club Bilbao, Kepa played alongside Andoni Iraola and this partnership was renunited once again at Bournemouth. Kepa was relieved to be back in the Premier League and admitted that Iraola "was a big reason for coming here (Bournemouth)".
This decision has proved to be successful as Bournemouth are experiencing their best season in the Premier League. After 28 games, the Cherries are in 9th place on 44 points, just three points off a potential Champions League place for next season.
In his 24 appearances for the club this season, he has kept 6 clean sheets and has made the same number of total saves as Robert Sanchez this season in the Premier League, despite playing a game less.