Chelsea In Advanced Talks To Sign Kepa For World Record Fee

Thibaut Courtois has only a couple of days to force his way out of Chelsea this summer and the Blues are looking towards Spain for his replacement as a move to Real Madrid sneaks ever closer.

The Premier League transfer window slams shut on Thursday afternoon. Usually I'd want to avoid such overused cliche but with it being such a short window and there being so many big deals still up in the air it seems a dramatic enough time to use it.

From Thursday at 5pm until the end of the month clubs in England's top tier could find themselves staving off interest in their players from Europe with no ability to replace anyone.

That's the problem that very much faces Chelsea. Thibaut Courtois is so desperate to move to Real Madrid that he's just stopped showing up for work, hoping that the Blues just think 'well if he's not coming in anyway we might as well get some money for him.'

But if Roman Abramovich does decide to sell the goalkeeper then he's only got 51 hours to get another goalie into the club for Maurizio Sarri.

Negotiating fees can take some time so it's handy that, according to Spanish newspapers, the Blues are going to go straight for paying a player's transfer release clause. According to AS that player will be Athletic Bilbao's Kepa whilst Mundo Deportivo say it'll be Atletico Madrid's Jan Oblak.

Atletico's Oblak could be the perfect replacement. Image: PA

Kepa, who only signed a new deal with Bilbao earlier this year, has a release clause of €80 million and was a reported target for Real back in January.

Oblak, who replaced Courtois as Atleti's number one when the Belgian returned to Chelsea, would be available for €100 million.

A move for either would be far costlier than Courtois' move to Real, thought to be around £30 million, but would ensure they get a world class replacement before selling the Belgian.

23 year old Kepa is highly rated. Image: PA Images

The former Atletico loanee only has one year left on his deal and has made it very clear that he wants to leave England this summer in order to move to the Champions League holders.

Chelsea have also been linked with Jordan Pickford, Pepe Reina and Jack Butland having previously been linked with Alisson before the Brazilian's move to Liverpool.

Topics: Football News, Kepa, Football transfers, Chelsea, Jan Oblak, Premier League, Transfer news, Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid, La Liga

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

@Sidler28