The Blues agreed to make the Athletic Bilbao No 1 the most expensive shot-stopper in history on Tuesday as they look to replace Real Madrid-bound Thibaut Courtois.

And the stunning deal moved a step closer to completion on Wednesday morning as lawyers representing Kepa and Chelsea deposited the record fee at 9.22am.

Kepa Arrizabalaga was pictured at Madrid Airport on Tuesday ahead of his move to Chelsea

Lawyers Enric Ripoll Gonzalez and Paolo Torchetti, from De Ruiz-Huerta and Crespo lawyers in Valencia, represented the Premier League side, while the payment was made through the player’s lawyers and Margarita Garay, general director of Bahia Internacional. She was accompanied by lawyers Rodrigo Garcia and Alvaro Reig de Laffer. 

In keeping with the way release clauses work in Spain, Chelsea paid the giant £72m fee to Kepa, who then instructed his lawyers to deposit it with La Liga. The money will then be distributed to Athletic Bilbao when all paperwork is completed.

The Spanish club confirmed that Kepa had paid his release clause and thanked him for his contribution in a statement on their official website. 

Margarita Garay, general director of Bahia Internacional, arrives at La Liga’s headquarters to pay Kepa’s release clause on Wednesday morning

Kepa, who was pictured at Madrid Airport on Tuesday night, did not attend the meeting on Wednesday morning as he prepares to fly from Getafe to London.

The 23-year-old will undergo a medical and put pen to paper on a long-term deal, which will trigger Courtois’ departure to Real for a fee of around £35m. 

The deal for Kepa outstrips the £66.8m paid by Liverpool for Alisson last month. The Brazilian was Chelsea’s first choice to replace Courtois, but he was keen to work with Jurgen Klopp.

Courtois has angered Chelsea by staying away from training in recent days in a bid to push through his move to the European champions, who are expected to offer Mateo Kovacic on loan as part of the deal.

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Chelsea focused attention on Kepa with time running out in the window and concerns over their other options. Sevilla’s Sergio Rico and Stoke’s Jack Butland, while both considerably cheaper, had been more inconsistent.

Kepa almost joined Madrid himself in January only for the deal to fall through with his price at just £17.5m. Serie A side Napoli, then under the guidance of Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri, also expressed an interest.

Chelsea are to pay a world record £72million fee for the talented Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper

Madrid instead decided to keep the door ajar for Courtois after he showed a willingness to join them. As a consequence, Kepa was rewarded with a new £60,000-a-week contract at Athletic but saw his buyout clause rise to £72m.

Though young and relatively raw, 6ft 3in Kepa is regarded as one of the best prospects to emerge from Spain and was named in his country’s World Cup squad.

The deal will trigger Thibaut Courtois’ departure to Real Madrid, who have made a £35m bid

He trained with Bilbao on Tuesday morning before getting the all-clear to travel to Madrid. He is expected to sign a five-year contract worth £5m a year after tax and be in contention to make his Premier League debut away at Huddersfield on Saturday.

Real Madrid midfielder Kovacic, 24, was identified by Chelsea as an alternative to Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey with Sarri looking to partner him with Jorginho and Kante in his new-look engine room.

Also watch all live games around the world on:

BT Sport Europe UK, Eurosport 1 HD UK , Sky Sports The Open UK, Sky Sports Main Event UK

The post Chelsea pay £72m release clause for Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Chelsea have met the buy-out fee for £22million Barcelona winger Pedro and expect to sign him next week, according to reports.

Barcelona winger Pedro is set to join Chelsea

Despite signing a contract extension earlier in the summer, the 27-year-old is expected to leave the Nou Camp in this transfer window.

Manchester United had expressed an interest in the securing his signature, but the Daily Star report that Chelsea have won the transfer race and are set to announce the signing as soon as next week-Metro

Real Sociedad make £6m offer for Joel Campbell?

Real Sociedad have reportedly emerged as favourites to clinch the signing of Arsenal forward Joel Campbell-sportsmole

Brendan Rodgers will use Liverpool’s transfer windfall from selling Raheem Sterling to manchester City on Tuesday to launch a bid for Aston Vila striker Christian Benteke. But the Reds are still reluctant to meet Villa’s £32m valuation.

Outcast keeper Victor Valdes ‘fit but just not selected’ for US tour

Spain international was not one of the three players at his position on Monday’s flight — seemingly paving the way for a move away this summer

Victor Valdes is set to be sold by Manchester United after being axed from their pre-season tour of the USA.

Victor Valdes is set to be sold by Manchester United after being axed from their pre-season tour of the USA.

The Spanish goalkeeper was the most high-profile absentee from the 26-strong squad of players who flew to Seattle on Monday at the start of the trip-mirror

Paris Saint-Germain are willing to match Angel Di Maria’s £200,000-a-week wages at Manchester United to entice him to join. 

They are said to be willing to offer £43million for a player it cost United £59m to sign from Real Madrid last summer.

PSG willing to offer £43million to sign Angel Di Maria from Manchester United

PSG have noted how unsettled Di Maria and his wife are in Manchester and they put their £4.1million Cheshire mansion up for sale after it was broken into earlier this year-mirror

West Ham are trying to save Alex Song‘s move to Upton Park. Barcelona midfielder Song could have to go under the knife to remove a piece of bone which has caused an ankle injury putting the deal in doubt-mirror

Stoke City complete deal for teenage Barcelona winger Moha El Ouriachi

Stoke City have confirmed the signing of the teenage winger Moha El Ouriachi from Barcelona-guardian

Raheem Sterling thanks Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers as poisonous transfer saga concludes

Raheem Sterling has left Liverpool at the end of one of the most poisonous transfer sagas in history with a final conciliatory gesture – thanking Brendan Rodgers for helping to develop his career.

It was irreconcilable difference with the Liverpool manager that were cited as one of the key reasons why Sterling wished to leave the club this summer, which he finally did in a £49m deal to Manchester City that makes him the most expensive English footballer of all time.

Raheem Sterling completed his move to Manchester City

In his first interview since the transfer, with the City website, Sterling also thanked his agent Aidy Ward, underlining his close relationship with the man who has at times found himself at the centre of the story over the last few months-standard

Mateo Kovacic comments on Liverpool offer

Liverpool were heavily linked with a move for Inter Milan’s highly rated young midfielder Mateo Kovacic this summer, and until last month, his transfer rumours used to feature almost on a daily basis on all major Italian newspapers. For instance, check the serial coverage on the story, we did from the Italian newspapers last month-soccerlens

Athletic Bilbao very close to €10m signing of Arsenal full back Nacho Monreal [AS]

Spanish defender Nacho Monreal could be on his way back to La Liga this summer, according to reports in Spain-101greatgoals

Former Manchester United striker Robin van Persie snubs Louis van Gaal in goodbye message

Robin van Persie snubbed Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal as he spoke of his thanks after completing a move away from Old Trafford on Tuesday.

Robin Van Persie after arriving in Turkey to sign for Fenerbahce

Van Persie, who insists he bears no ill-feeling towards Manchester United for selling him, was unveiled as a Fenerbahce player at a press conference at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul.-standard

David De Gea transfer: Real Madrid to pay €5m if goalkeeper stays at United

Real Madrid are leaving no stone unturned in making sure that David De Gea will join them at least by next year. While the ideal situation for them would be for the Spaniard to leave Manchester United this summer, the club have made arrangements to make sure that De Gea doesn’t sign a new contract with the Red Devils even if he stays on for the 2015/16 campaign-soccerlens

Nicolas Otamendi threatening to go AWOL from Valencia training until future is sorted with Manchester United interested 

Nicolas Otamendi is threatening not to turn up for Valencia training until his future is resolved.

The Argentina centre-back is due back on July 27 but wants to push through a move to Manchester United before then.

Nicolas Otamendi wants his future at Valencia resolved with a move to Manchester United in the pipe line

Sportsmail reported this week how he was still very much in United’s thinking but their prime concern is to make headway on a deal for Sergio Ramos-Daily mail

Alex Song ‘agrees terms with West Ham ahead of permanent transfer’

Alex Song has agreed terms with West Ham to join the club from Barcelona, according to reports.

Song, who spend last season on-loan at Upton Park from Barca, was one of the club’s stand out performers-Metro

Manchester City turn to Everton maestro

Manchester City are weighing up a move for Everton midfielder James McCarthy after missing out on England’s Fabian Delph-shoot

The post Transfer News: Chelsea to complete £22m Pedro deal next week, Manchester United’s Di Maria nears £43m PSG switch, Nicolas Otamendi to Manchester United and more.. first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The FA CUP

Holders Arsenal won the FA Cup for a record 12th time on Saturday 30^th may, outclassing Aston Villa 4-0 at Wembley with stunning goals from Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez setting up victory.

Theo walcott-celebrates after scoring Arsenal’s first goal against Aston Villa

Per Mertesacker and Olivier Giroud were also on target as the Londoners sealed their biggest winning margin in a final of the world’s oldest knockout competition.

Arsene Wenger also became the most successful FA Cup manager of modern times, guiding his side to a sixth triumph in their 19th final.

The Coupe de France.

The only team from outside the top divisions, Auxerre, came up against Qatar-backed Paris Saint-Germain in the Coupe de France final.

The Ligue 2 side defended for their life and had some good attacks; though they were not good enough as they were eventually beaten  1-0 by PSG.

PSG celebrate winning the Coupe de France

Auxerre had not played any big side and it was a tough call to beat up the Ligue 1 champions in the final.

Paris Saint-Germain has been dominant in French football; particularly since Qatar Sports Investments bought the club in 2011going on to lift three Ligue 1 Titles to date.

Laurent Blanc’s side were not exactly  dominant against Auxerre having had a poor start in the first half but went to win thanks to Edinson Cavani’s second half goal.

DFB-Pokal Final sends Kloop out with a loss.

The German Cup final in Berlin saw two of the best attacking sides in Bundesliga coming up against each other.

Wolfsburg who finished in second-place in the Bundesliga played against Borussia Dortmund who were in seventh place.

With Jurgen Klopp’s last match in charge, Borussia Dortmund was expected to win the cup for their manager against Wolfsburg.

The BVB team had a perfectly start after they took the lead over Wolfsburg in the first five minutes through Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Wolfsburg however had other ideas as it took them only 17 minutes to equalize,then score two more goals going into halftime to give the DFB-Pokal final its 3–1 full-time score.

Wolfsburg celebrate winning DFB-Pokal Final

Dortmund experienced the same showings which have been ever present in their Bundesliga games of not killing off games.

They failed to contain Kevin De Bruyne and Bas Dost handing Wolfsburg the trophy and a sore sending off of their manager Jorgen Klopp.

Dortmund had hoped for a positive ending for Klopp, the manager that has brought much success and improved style of play, but things did not go as planned. Klopp earlier stated that this was his last season with Dortmund and that the time was right for him to leave.

Dieter Hecking’s Wolfsburg deserved the win with his side being one of the best attacking sides in Europe.

It’s the only trophy he has won as a manager since taking the Regionalliga Nord (German fourth tier) in 2002 with VfB Lübeck, it’s Wolfsburg’s first DFB-Pokal triumph and it’s the first time since 2011 a team other than Dortmund and Bayern Munich has won a domestic trophy.

Barcelona’s Treble chase still on in Luis Enrique’s first season

Barcelona outgunned Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final 3–1 in a battle of the Catalans against the Basques. Lionel Messi produced one of the individualistic goals this season and a good team goal capped by Neymar tap-in put Barça chances of a treble to just one game away from the treble in Luis Enrique’s debut season.

Barça played their full strength team and got a well-deserved 2-0 lead in halftime against a highly motivated Bilbao side.

Barcelona celebrate beating Athletic Bilbao 3-1 in the Copa del Rey final

The second half saw Barcelona containing the game but Bilbao tried to play their way back

Messi ensured Barcelona got a win after he scored a third goal and Bilbao could just master a consolation goal from Inaki Williams.

With the attacking trio of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez all fit for the Champions League final against Juventus on 6th June in Berlin,we wait to see who which team will take the trophy.

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