I liked the lengths Chelsea went to get me: Kepa Arrizabalaga on rejecting Real Madrid for the Blues

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Bengaluru, September 5: Kepa Arrizabalaga, who was roped in by Chelsea in a record transfer for a goalkeeper, has revealed that he rejected a move to Real Madrid as he was happy with Chelsea's plans for him. Getting to play in the Premier League also played a major factor in Arrizabalaga's mind when he moved from Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea.

The Spanish keeper joined the Blues from the La Liga club last month after Thibaut Courtois decided to quit for Real Madrid. Since then, he has had a fine start to his Premier League career, winning their opening four Premier League games and keeping two clean sheets in the process.

Chelsea were tipped to sign Alisson Becker but the Brazilian joined Liverpool, while Jordan Pickford and Pepe Reina were the other names considered.

However, Chelsea replaced the Belgian international by breaking the transfer fee record for a goalkeeper in a £71.6million deal. The shot-stopper earlier, however, was linked with Real Madrid at the start of the Summer window but the Spaniard then decided to renew his contract with the Basque club, rejecting the Los Blancos proposal.

And now, the 23-year-old has explained that Chelsea’s recent achievements were too tempting to turn down, while he liked the lengths the Londoners went in order to get the deal over the line.

When asked why he finally agreed to join Chelsea after rejecting approaches from Real and Juventus, the goalkeeper told Spanish publication AS: "It is a great club, which in recent years has won the Champions League, Europa League and the Premier League.

"It’s a team with great players. It was an important bet and I am happy to take this step, I want to enjoy it.

"I started the pre-season with Bilbao and it was several weeks, Chelsea showed their interest.

"There were talks and everything was carried out. I’m happy for all the effort that Chelsea has made because it’s not easy to pay those amounts and I’m looking forward to returning it on the field."

The 23-year-old further insisted that leaving Bilbao for the Premier League was tough. "It’s important for my career. It’s true I’m going to another league, and I would only face Athletic in European competition – which would be a good sign for both clubs.

"So maybe (not having to play against Athletic was important). But above all else what weighed most was the interest from Chelsea and how much they showed they wanted to sign me," he added.

Kepa has now flown back to Spain to train with the national team. He could be handed a debut against England at Wembley this Saturday in the UEFA Nations League.