Chelsea have entered talks with Athletic Bilbao over a world-record £71.5million deal for Kepa as a replacement for Thibaut Courtois.
The Blues have stepped up their efforts to find a new No1 in the last 24 hours with Courtois on strike in an attempt to force through a move to Real Madrid, and are prepared to meet the massive release clause in the 23-year-old's contract.
It is understood that Chelsea still have to convince Kepa to make the move to Stamford Bridge, but he was significantly seen travelling from Bilbao to Madrid airport with his agents.
Chelsea have considered a number of options over the last few months, but missed out on Alisson to Liverpool.
Courtois, who has less than 12 months left on his current deal has been putting pressure on the Blues to resolve the situation by staying away from training for the past two days.
The Belgium international has been Chelsea's first choice goalie since 2014, but has agreed personal terms with Real Madrid.
The Blues wouldn't let him go until they found someone else first, but Real Madrid have helped matters by offering Croatia international Mateo Kovacic on loan with an option to buy.
It means that funds that Chelsea were planning to spend on a midfielder, like Inter Milan's Matias Vecino, can now be used on a new keeper instead.
Real Madrid were actually set to buy Kepa in January for £18m, but he chose to stay and sign a new deal at Bilbao instead.
The £18m fee was the release clause that was in his previous contract, but the price was increased in the new deal to £71.5m.
Chelsea have until 5pm on Thursday to complete negotiations, but there is confidence that the saga involving the club's goalkeeping situation is about to come to an end.
