Chelsea could be about to make a huge loss on a record signing in the coming transfer windows by selling him for £63m less than what they initially paid.
Over £1bn has been spent by Chelsea in the last three transfer windows, with players such as Mason Mount, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic all leaving the club to fund more signings.
While many of those sales have yielded significant fees - over £230m in total - Chelsea are prepared to let one player leave for a massive loss.
According to Spanish outlet La Defensa, Real Madrid want to keep Kepa Arrizabalaga beyond his loan spell, and are willing to pay Chelsea £8.7m for the Spanish goalkeeper.
Chelsea signed Kepa from Athletic Bilbao for £72m in 2018, a transfer record for a goalkeeper. While he did win the Europa League in his first season at the club, it hasn't quite worked out for the 29-year-old at Stamford Bridge.
Veteran shot-stopper Willy Caballero replaced him in the starting line-up under Frank Lampard, before the Blues signed Edouard Mendy to come in as the No.1. Both Mendy and Arrizabalaga left this summer, however, with the latter heading to Real Madrid to fill in for the injured Thibaut Courtois.
And it seems his performances for Los Blancos has impressed the hierarchy enough to want to sign him on a permanent transfer next summer to act as back-up to Courtois. The transfer fee proposed, though, is over £63m less than what Chelsea signed him for in 2018, potentially making a deal more difficult to conclude.
Despite that significant loss, under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Captial, Chelsea have been willing to let players leave the club in order to finance new, younger signings. Robert Sanchez is the club's goalkeeper now, with Mauricio Pochettino still happy with the Spaniard despite his error against Arsenal on Saturday.
"We are so happy with him," Pochettino said. "Of course he is disappointed and upset with his decision but mistakes happen in football.
"This goal gave the belief to Arsenal. We can maybe read better the situation, the tempo, the timing. We can take risks on 77 minutes because it’s our philosophy, but maybe there is another decision you can take."
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Chelsea are reportedly seeking a £500 million loan in order to continue buying players, despite an outlay of around £1 billion over the past year.
And Blues manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that the west London club have "already started to work" on January signings.
Bringing in a striker is understood to be a priority and Napoli's Victor Osimhen is one potential target, with the Nigerian's future in Italy up in the air after he was bizarrely mocked by his own club on social media recently.
