Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga is reportedly close to signing a new contract with the La Liga club.

Despite being linked with Arsenal and allegedly demanding a payrise, Arrizabalaga is reportedly set to agree a new deal with Bilbao, which will contain a hefty £66.5m release clause.

Considering the 23-year-old, who has been compared to David de Gea, previously had a release clause of just £8.8m, this is quite a jump.

Bilbao are also apparently willing to pay Arrizabalaga’s £2.7m salary.

Considering Arsenal sold Wojciech Szczesny to Juventus in the summer, you’d imagine that we’re on the look-out for a new shot-stopper and since Arrizabalaga is highly rated, it seems a shame that we’ll miss out on him. That’s if we were ever actually interested.

What’s more, Petr Cech and David Ospina’s contracts both run out in 2019. There’s been no talk of renewing their deals and considering Cech’s age and Ospina’s unreliability, I doubt it’ll happen.

The Spain u21 international has made six appearances for Bilbao so far this season and kept two clean sheets. However, he’s shipped nine goals.

The goalkeeper makes 3.33 saves on average per game but concedes 1.5 goals.

Last term, he made 23 appearances in La Liga and kept seven clean sheets, conceding under a goal a game.