FORMER Chelsea goalkeeper Rob Green has recalled the time his wife mistook Kepa Arrizabalaga for a fan looking for an autograph.
Both players joined the Blues in 2018, with Green, 42, penning a one-year deal on a free transfer to be the club's third-choice shot-stopper.
Meanwhile Kepa, who was 23 at the time, was brought in from Athletic Bilbao in what was a then-club-record £71.6million deal.
But Green's partner thought he was a young FAN at first.
Green told Football.London: "I tend to forget how young he was when he signed, and he went from his hometown club to Chelsea as the world's most expensive goalkeeper.
"He was still just a youngster really. I remember I was at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel after I signed and it was the summer holidays.
"My wife turned to me and said, 'I think there is a fan here. He's in a Chelsea tracksuit so he'll probably be coming over to say hello. He's the young lad over there with his mum and dad'."
"I looked over and then said, 'Oh no, that's the most expensive goalkeeper in the world. That's Kepa'.
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"It was easy to understand why my wife would look at him as just a young lad. That is what he was.
"So to have the chance to take a step back [over the past year] and to look at the overall picture [was important]."
Spain international Kepa appeared in a whopping 54 games during the 2018-19 campaign under Maurizo Sarri where he helped the West Londoners win the Europa League.
Despite Kepa's early success, he struggled in his second season in England under Frank Lampard where he made a number of high-profile mistakes.
And he is now Chelsea's back-up goalie following the arrival of Senegalese star Edouard Mendy in 2020.
Kepa has featured in four Premier League games this term – starting the last three in Mendy's absence at the Africa Cup of Nations.
But he now looks set to return to the bench with Mendy due to meet up with his Chelsea team-mates imminently in Abu Dhabi for the Club World Cup.
Green hung up his gloves at the end of the 2018-19 season after his Blues contract wasn't renewed.
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