Chelsea’s Kepa Recalls Childhood Memory of How He Became a Goalkeeper

• Kepa Arrizabalaga is the most expensive goalkeeper after Chelsea paid £71-mil for him
• The Spaniard has had his fair share of ups and downs since joining at Stamford Bridge
• He has since recalled the childhood memories of how he fell in love with keeping goals

Look at any football position in the world where expensive fees have been paid for players in that position, and Chelsea will certainly be there - a reputation that dates back to the era of Roman Abramovich.

The world's most expensive goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga currently plays for the Blues, after they activated his release clause of £71-million to sign him from Athletic Bilbao in 2018.

The Spanish shot-stopper has seen good and bad moments at Stamford Bridge, but he would be grateful he chose the path of becoming a goalkeeper from his days as a child.

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How Kepa became a keeper

Many footballers made switches across positions in their earlier days.

Former Chelsea defender, Kurt Zouma started as right-winger and striker, as revealed by HITC, while legendary goalkeeper, Petr Cech started as a striker, according to All Football.

Kepa has been a goalkeeper all his life and revealed it was his first love, in his episode of In My Own Words via the club's official app.

It all started in his village of Ondarroa, in the Basque region of Spain.

His usual route home from school had a sports shop on the way. Kepa said there were goalkeeper gloves hanging beside the cashier and that made him fall in love with the position.

''I don't know why, but I immediately felt something. It was as if they were staring at me."

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The young Spaniard urged his parents to buy him the gloves and they gave in. It turned out the pair were too big for his hands, and he could not return them.

''From then on, I went to training with gloves triple the size of my hands. And I owned it.''

Kepa praised the influence of former Bilbao coaches, Luis Llopis and Marcelo Biesla on his growth both in his career and as a man.

''When I play, I don't just play for Chelsea, I play for the people who got me here,'' he added.

Kepa employs time-wasting tactics

Sports Brief earlier reported on Kepa employing unorthodox tactics to waste time, in Chelsea's 1-0 Premier League win over London neighbours, Crystal Palace.

The Blues were ahead late on in the game through a Kai Havertz header, when a ball went out for a goal kick. The number 1 then put his plan into action.

Kepa went around the back of the net to pick up the ball and as Palace fans were throwing it towards him, he punched it back into the crowd to their disapproval.