Bournemouth have reached an agreement to sign Kepa Arrizabalaga on loan from Chelsea, sources have told ESPN.
The 29-year-old is expected to sign a one-year contract extension with the club so they can protect his transfer value before undergoing a medical on Tuesday at the south coast side.
Arrizabalaga's contract at Stamford Bridge will now run until July 2026 and sources say his move to Bournemouth will not include an option or obligation to make the move permanent.
He will be reunited at Bournemouth with coach Andoni Iraola after both were on Athletic Club's roster nine years ago.
Arrizabalaga became the most expensive goalkeeper in the world when he moved from Athletic Club to Chelsea in August 2018 for 80 million euros ($89.3 million).
He won the Europa League during his first season but fell out of favour during Frank Lampard's tenure as head coach before the club signed Édouard Mendy as his replacement in September 2020.
Arrizabalaga enjoyed something of a renaissance under Graham Potter during the 2022-23 campaign but spent last season on loan at Real Madrid, where he made 19 appearances as understudy to Thibaut Courtois, who suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in his right knee.
Meanwhile, Chelsea announced the signing of goalkeeper Mike Penders on Tuesday, taking their total of players signed this summer to 12.
Penders, 19, joins for a fee of 20 million euros ($22.3 million) from Belgian Pro League side Genk and will return to the club on loan to continue his development.
The Belgium Under-19 international has made two appearances for Genk's senior team, the first of which came against Standard Liège in July.
Penders follows Pedro Neto, Tosin Adarabioyo, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Filip Jörgensen, Omari Kellyman, Aaron Anselmino, Caleb Wiley, Renato Veiga, Marc Guiu and João Félix in arriving at the west London club, while Estêvão Willian has agreed to join the club in 2025.
Chelsea now have five goalkeepers called up to their first team following Kepa's departure: Robert Sánchez, Lucas Bergstrom, Jörgensen, Djordje Petrovic and Marcus Bettinelli.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has said the focus will now be on spending to streamline the club's squad and finances.
“The objective is to solve the economic problem in terms of selling players,” Maresca told Chelsea's website. “From there, we will try to do the best we can and see where we get to.”
Chelsea's problems in offloading players are well documented, with England internationals Ben Chilwell and Raheem Sterling among a group of around 15 high-earning players ostracised by the manager and not training with the first team.
“For us, the objective at the moment is to improve the players. Nobody at the club asked me to compete for the Premier League or for a Champions League place,” Maresca added.
“I want to see my team play the way we want to play and compete in every game. I want to see a clear idea of what they want with the ball and a very aggressive team without the ball. The most important thing is to get better game after game.”
Information from Reuters contributed to this report.
