In the last three weeks, there have been one rumour after the other regarding the future of Thibaut Courtois and the player himself has further fuelled the speculation by saying he isn’t sure of staying at Chelsea beyond this season.
As Goal.com reported a couple of weeks ago, Courtois said
“I do not say yes, I do not say no. I do not know,” he told Belgian broadcaster RTBF when asked if he will stay at Chelsea beyond this season.
“I still have three years on my contract. We must see what Chelsea want.
“It is true that it [this season] has changed me. Until now I had always won a trophy every season. We hope that next season will be better.”
The statement above was made during the last international break in March and ever since there has been one media report after the other linking the shotstopper to Real Madrid. The 10 times Champions League winners are said to be prepared to make a big money move for the Belgian once the European championship in France is done with after losing out on David De Gea last summer due to a contract problem.
Reports claim Real Madrid are prepared to offer as much as £60 million to convince Chelsea to sell the Belgian and if you ask me, he should be sold if such an amount is offered for him.
First, Courtois seems to have become slightly arrogant and possibly even a little bit of a selfish player. He has failed to accept the fact that the Blues are doing so badly this season because he and his colleagues have let down the club and the fans.
It is a disappointing statement to make about the club who put their trust in the young Belgian by allowing club legend Petr Cech to move on to rivals Arsenal.
With Keylor Navas likely to be available if Madrid are truly going to be signing Courtois, Chelsea can easily get rid of someone who doesn’t want to play for the team or sees himself bigger than the team and still get in someone equally as good and still have some cash left. Keylor Navas may not be getting the same rating as Courtois but anyone who has seen the Costa Rican play, knows he is a very good goalkeeper who is just unfortunately underrated.
This is not saying Courtois is a bad player, he is certainly among the top three goalkeepers in the Premier league but if a player doesn’t want to play for a club or sees himself bigger than the club, he is certainly not going to play to capacity and should be allowed to leave. From what we hear of Antonio Conte it seems he would not be a fan of the comments attributed to Courtois. It remains to be seen how this plays out but likely nothing will happen until the new boss takes his post.
Contributed by Jens Keinert