Chelsea appear to have moved closer to resolving a troublesome position in what could be Mauricio Pochettino's first signing as head coach of the Premier League side.
Kepa Arrizabalaga has enjoyed the odd high point in a Chelsea shirt but has certainly not provided enough moments to justify the substantial record-breaking £72m fee the Blues splashed out to buy him from Athletic Bilbao in August 2018.
Edouard Mendy was brought in as a stopgap of sorts but he was ousted as number one again by Kepa last season and both goalkeepers' futures seem uncertain.
Amid some suggestions Chelsea could be in for Leeds United stopper Illan Meslier – statistically the weakest 'keeper in the Premier League last season in terms of goals conceded – a name has emerged that makes far more sense.
Chelsea have reportedly been boosted in their pursuit of Inter Milan's Andre Onana after the Champions League runners-up moved for Guglielmo Vicario from Serie A rivals Empoli.
According to The Sun, Pochettino is a big fan of the £55m stopper and is 'eager' to bring him to London with Chelsea allegedly open to possibly offering Romelu Lukaku and Kalidou Koulibaly to Inter to help push through a transfer.
Is Andre Onana an upgrade on Kepa Arrizabalaga?
Onana's final involvement as an Inter player may well be keeping Europe's most prolific striker quiet in Saturday's Champions League final, but while Erling Haaland was unable to find a way through, Rodri's strike proved enough for Manchester City to prevail 1-0 in Istanbul.
The former Cameroon international was superb throughout Inter's impressive European run, keeping the most clean sheets (eight) and making the most saves (47) of any goalkeeper in the competition.
Given he is not talked about as highly as some goalkeepers on the continent, LiveScore described Onana as being "underrated" for the way he has gone about his business.
The 27-year-old is not just a great shot-stopper, either, with his progressive passing distance of 8,251 yards – the distance he moved the ball towards the opposition's goal – the highest of any player in this past season's Champions League.
It is clear that Onana is strong in more than one area, then, as he showed in club football's most prestigious competition, but just how does he compare to Kepa, who is currently in possession of the gloves at Stamford Bridge?
As per FBref, the "elite" Onana – as dubbed by Zach Lowy – outperformed Kepa in a number of key metrics last season, albeit across different leagues, including save percentage (77.8 v 73.8), clean sheet percentage (46.3 v 30.8) and completed passes per 90 minutes (33.6 v 28.5).
As Man City boss Pep Guardiola previously said in praising Onana, the former Ajax 'keeper is "exceptional with his feet", best reflected by his 100% completion rate in terms of short passes – defined as being between five and 15 yards – with all 308 passes finding a team-mate last season.
Onana was also able to change it up and play the ball long, with 0.78 completed passes into the final third per 90 minutes, which is a much higher figure than the 0.19 Kepa averaged.
Kepa has his own qualities, not least his ability to sweep up danger – the Spaniard outperformed Onana in that department with 1.63 defensive actions outside the penalty area per 90 minutes last term, compared to 0.35 for his possible future rival.
But the negatives outweigh the positives when it comes to the £150k-per-week gloveman, and Chelsea's need for a new goalkeeper is clear. In Onana, they can sign a player who is equally as good at playing out from the back as he is at saving shots, making him an obvious upgrade on what they currently have.
