Kepa Arrizabalaga has admitted he is "really happy" at Arsenal after making the move from Chelsea in the summer.
The Spaniard joined the Gunners from the Blues in a deal worth £5million, with Mikel Arteta bringing his fellow Spaniard to the club to act as cover for David Raya. The 31-year-old impressed out on loan at Bournemouth last season and adds much needed quality and experience to the goalkeeping department.
The former Athletic Club man made his debut against Port Vale in the Carabao Cup last month and has admitted it has been fairly easy to settle into his new surroundings. Speaking to the official Arsenal website, Kepa said: "It’s been really good, really good. I’m really happy to be here and I feel I’m already adapting myself in the team. It’s such a nice group of people and that makes everything easier.
“There haven’t been any surprises really. How a changing room works is always quite similar. But what I would say is that the quality of people here – on and off the pitch – is really amazing.
“In the first month or so you have to settle into the surroundings, off the pitch as well if you have family, but I’m used to this. Also we have had a few new players this summer, so we can all share our thoughts on some of the new situations for us.
“There are some Spanish players that I know from the national team, and that’s really good, especially in the first week. I knew Kai [Havertz] as well; he’s been a big supporter for me. We chatted a lot during the summer. He was on holiday with Martin Odegaard so we had that time to chat and share our thoughts about things.”
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Kepa has worked closely with Raya since moving to Arsenal and the pair have already formed a strong relationship. “We work together and push each other hard. The main thing is to help the team. The main target of any goalkeeper is to help the team and to do your job," Kepa said.
"Obviously, it’s a special position on the pitch. We spend a lot of time with our coach Inaki, pushing each other, and training has been very demanding, which is good.
“We prepare ourselves to face situations we will have in games. The more we can do in training, and the more work we can do in the week, it makes the games a little bit easier.
“We have to push each other and we’re doing that. We both love to train, love to train hard and push each other in every session. As Inaki says, sometimes you have to suffer in training so that the games feel easier. That’s exactly what we are doing."
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