Chelsea failed in Atletico's Jan Oblak pursuit before signing Athletic's Kepa Arrizabalaga

Bengaluru, August 13: Chelsea broke the world record fee to land Athletic Bilbao keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga last week but according to reports, their first preference was Atletico shot-stopper, Jan Oblak.

Chelsea were looking for a replacement for the Real Madrid-bound Thibaut Courtois ahead of the transfer day deadline last Thursday and the Premier League giants tried to buy Oblak out of his contract at Atletico. But according to reports in England, Oblak rejected the chance to join them despite the Blues triggering his £89.4million (€100m) release clause.

Chelsea only looked into different options then and decided to break the bank, paying £71.6 million for the 23-year-old Kepa. The Spanish international put pen to paper on a seven-year deal and replaced Courtois as the club's No 1 following the Belgian's departure.

Welcome to Chelsea Kepa Arrizabalaga! @kepa_46 🙌 #CFC #KTBFFH pic.twitter.com/4Wxm8wIVEP

— CFC-Blues.com (@CFCBlues_com) August 9, 2018

Oblak, whose current contract at Atletico runs until the summer of 2021, has seen his reputation reach sky high since his switch to Atletico from Benfica in 2014.

The Slovenian international is widely considered as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He helped Atletico win the Europa League and was also part of the team that reached the Champions League final in 2016.

This
JAN OBLAK pic.twitter.com/UsxdEus6Ob

— JoseBallesteros (@JoseKunX1) August 6, 2018

The player is now set to be handed a pay raise with a new contract and reportedly his release clause might be increased to around €250m.

Oblak has kept 68 clean sheets in his 116 La Liga appearances for Atletico, 19 of them coming in 34 Champions League games.

Meanwhile, Kepa played his first game in the Blues shirt the last weekend and maintained a clean sheet as Maurizio Sarri's men crushed Huddersfield Town 3-0.

The young keeper also expressed his delight following the win in the social media and tweeted: "Great start of the @premierleague , I’m very happy with my debut. Come on blues!! @chelseafc".

Kepa gets a clean sheet on his debut but he faced only one shot on target. A nice was to ease him in ahead of a game against Arsenal next week. #CFC #HUDCHE

— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) August 11, 2018

The keeper, however, will face a big test next week, when he will appear in his first London derby against Arsenal.