With both Chelsea and Atletico Madrid qualifying for the UEFA Champions League semi-final stages this past midweek, quite a few people are looking towards the future of Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian goalkeeper has been on loan at the Madrid club since 2011 from Chelsea.
Courtois is quite simply a remarkable talent—one that Chelsea and Atletico feel blessed to have on their books. And the fact he is only the age of 21 makes him one of the hottest prospects in the world. If he is remarkable now then just imagine how brilliant he could pick when he reaches the typical peak age of a goalkeeper.
The statistics are phenomenal to look at too. He made his professional debut for Genk at the age of 16 and since then he has made 188 appearances for Genk and Atletico Madrid in all competitions across six seasons. His performance in La Liga this season has seen him keep 17 clean sheets in 31 appearances.
Undoubtedly it will be an interesting affair if Chelsea and Atletico Madrid are drawn against each other in tomorrow’s Champions League semi-final draw. According to the rules, Atletico Madrid would have to hand about £4.8 million for Courtois to feature against his parent club. One would assume that if they are pitted against each other that Atletico would pay up for the services of the Belgian international.
It would be interesting if Atletico refuses to pay the sum that Chelsea demand and that could give a glimpse into what life may be like without Courtois at Atletico. Yet this definitely seems like an unlikely scenario. Yet it still raises questions to the future of Courtois, and the future for goalkeepers at Chelsea and Atletico.
Courtois’ career is at a quandary. He is making a nice living in the Spanish capital and he could very well end up being a La Liga and even a Champions League champion at the end of the season, before heading to Brazil as Belgium’s number one goalkeeper. Clearly, Jose Mourinho would be foolish to ship him off to Atletico once again, even though Chelsea has got the legendary Petr Cech in their books.
Atletico will be doing anything in their power to retain the services of the young Chelsea starlet, even if that means keeping him on loan for another season. The problem for manager Diego Simeone is that Courtois seems intent on becoming Chelsea’s number one next season.
Mourinho also will have to do some man-management to keep Courtois and/or current Chelsea number one Peter Cech happy. The problem is that he will be unable to keep both men happy without putting one up on the transfer list.
At this moment in time the easiest solution would be if Mourinho and Simeone take a united stance and convince Courtois to stay at Atletico for one more season whilst Chelsea work out how to transition Cech out of the club.
Petr Cech is Chelsea’s biggest problem if Mourinho wants to keep Courtois. It could be a possibility that he might loan Cech out to Atletico instead of Courtois next season. Another solution could come in the form of a part-exchange transfer.
Chelsea are definitely targeting Diego Costa in the next transfer window and they could either use one of the two goalkeepers and a reduced value on Costa instead of paying the full price for the Brazilian-born Spanish striker. Furthermore this could benefit Chelsea when it comes to UEFA’s Financial Fair Play regulations (if they actually mean anything to the big clubs) as it would mean less money lost on a transfer and getting rid of someone from their wage bill.
This, of course, depends if Atletico’s manager would be interested in a part exchange either for Courtois or Cech. After all, Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas will be available this summer as he is slowly getting fed up of life at their cross-town rivals. That’s not to say though it will be difficult to replace Courtois at Atletico, who himself made an excellent replacement for David De Gea. Simeone’s biggest challenge might not be trying to keep Costa or replacing him, but to find a goalkeeper of a Champions League standard.
The only thing that is guaranteed at this stage is that the future of Thibaut Courtois is going to be one of the biggest stories in the next transfer window. For now, the speculation will continue to develop about his future and how it could affect the transfer dealings for Chelsea, Atletico Madrid or even an outside party in this Courtois angle.
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