Gianluigi Buffon was the most expensive goalkeeper in the world for over 17 years. Now the once-august record is set to be broken for the second time in as many weeks.
Mere days after Liverpool shattered Buffon’s record by signing Alisson from Roma for €70million (£63million), Chelsea are about to up the ante by fluffing €80million (£72million) on Atheltic Bilbao stopper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
According to ESPN journalist Dermot Corrigan, the Blues triggered Kepa’s gigantic release clause at precisely 09:22 on Wednesday morning by dumping the full €80million in the requisite bank account at the Spanish Football Federation in Madrid.
So that’s €80million for a 23-year-old with one international cap and little over 50 senior appearances in total smacks of a panic buy (with Thibaut Courtois doing his utmost to force through a move to Real Madrid).
Of course it’s total lunacy, but that’s exactly what we’ve come to expect from the Premier League in recent years.
We suppose if you are going to succumb to a panic buy, you may as well go the whole hog and make it a world record? In for a penny…