Zinedine Zidane 'blocked Real Madrid's Kepa Arrizabalaga deal in 2018'

Real Madrid had allegedly agreed to sign Kepa Arrizabalaga for €20m in 2018 before Zinedine Zidane decided that he did not want to complete the transfer.

Before his transfer to Chelsea later that year, Arrizabalaga had established himself as one of the top young goalkeepers in Europe at Athletic Bilbao, naturally attracting attention from the bigger clubs in his homeland.

Once his release clause was increased to €80m, a move became more unlikely, but Chelsea made the decision to stump up the fee when Real made a bid to sign Thibaut Courtois.

According to Goal, it appeared that Arrizabalaga's career was close to taking a different path during the previous transfer window with Real being keen to make an investment in the then-23-year-old.

After impressing in Bilbao, Los Blancos were prepared to activate his buy-out clause, but it is claimed that Zidane did not want to add further competition to his goalkeeping ranks at that stage in fear of creating disharmony.

With Courtois becoming available due to just a year remaining on his contract at Stamford Bridge, Real did not return for Arrizabalaga later that year.