• Source:JND
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Real Madrid have signed Spanish goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga on loan from Chelsea, the club have confirmed.

Madrid was forced to move for Kepa after their star and first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois suffered an ACL tear in training last week.

Courtois is expected to be unavailable for around seven months leaving Andriy Lunin as a backup option for the Laliga giants who started their new campaign with a 2-0 away victory over Athletic Club on Saturday.

The 28-year-old Kepa was first very close to joining Madrid in January 2018, but a change of plans saw the club opt to sign Courtois later that year. He then replaced the Belgian international at Chelsea with a record €80 million ($87.6m) deal for a goalkeeper.

The Spain international had tough five years at Stamford Bridge and was the first choice for only the first two seasons. He then lost his place in the team to Edouard Mendy and then regained it for much of the 2022-23 campaign.

The Premier League club signed another Spaniard Robert Sanchez from Brighton as their first-choice goalkeeper last week and started for the Blues in their first game against Liverpool on Sunday.

Courtois has been at the top of his game after moving to Madrid having already won a few trophies including a Champion League title a couple of seasons back.

Kepa is considered as a perfect replacement for Courtois and will be presented as a Madrid player on Tuesday.

However, it remains doubtful whether he will immediately become the undisputed starter between the sticks. Coach Carlo Ancelotti said that Lunin is the team’s starter but there’s a good chance he was just trying to show his trust in the Ukrainian goalkeeper ahead of the season opener against Athletic.

It was also reported that Ancelotti initially favored signing Sevilla's Morocco international Yassine Bounou, but his club's financial demands and his involvement in January's Africa Cup of Nations kept him out of contention.

David de Gea was also in line for the role who left Manchester United this summer but Kepa emerged as a favorite who was close to joining Bayer Munich but put that deal on hold when Madrid's interest emerged.

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