Atletico Madrid not interested in Kepa-Oblak swap deal with Chelsea
Chelsea have been dealt a decisive blow in their pursuit of Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak with their Spanish counterparts not interested in a potential swap deal involving Kepa, claims The Daily Mail.
Frank Lampard is desperate to replace Kepa over the summer but accepts he will have to find a way of offloading the Spain international first before being able to get a new goalkeeper through the door.
Kepa has been a huge disappointment for Chelsea since arriving in a world-record £71.6m deal from Atlethic Club two years ago and the Premier League outfit will struggle to recoup anywhere near that fee this summer.
Chelsea were mulling the idea of offering Kepa to Atletico in an attempt to significantly lower Oblak's £110m valuation but Diego Simeone's side are not interested in the 25-year-old.
It is widely accepted the only chance Chelsea have of moving Kepa on this summer involves a Spanish club but with LaLiga's big three out of the running then the chances of that happening look bleak.
Of players with more than 10 appearances in the Premier League this season, Kepa has the worst save success rate in the division (55.8%).
Frank is smoking some potent stuff.
@What4 i don't think any club wants kepa let alone oblak
@What4 Well now you can't accuse him of negligence when Kepa fails again next season.
@benj I meant why does he think Atletico would want to swap arguably the best keeper in the world for Kepa?
@What4 Yeah, probably didn't, but now fans won't blame Lampard for ignoring the Kepa problem. So pretty much had to make some offer and leak it. But tbh Kepa had 20M MV when they bought him for 80 and now he plays like 20, so why blame anyone else but Chelsea.