Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has asked to leave the club amidst heavy interest from Real Madrid, according to ESPN.
The broadcaster states that the 65-cap Belgium international has informed new manager Maurizio Sarri that he wants a move away from Stamford Bridge this summer.
Following the Blues’ 2-0 Community Shield defeat to Manchester City, Sarri admitted that the 26-year-old could be sold this summer if he wanted a move.
Courtois has been repeatedly linked with a move to the Bernabeu this summer, with the Belgian now in the final year of his Chelsea contract.
Good move for Chelsea?
No, frankly. It’s simply been left too late for Courtois’ exit to make any kind of sense for Chelsea. If he were to leave now the Blues would have mere days to finalise a deal for his replacement, even less than that because they’d be spending much of that time negotiating the Belgian’s sale itself. Stoke’s Jack Butland and Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel have both been mentioned as possible replacements for Courtois, but both are a slight step down and a deal to sign either one would be desperately difficult at this late stage. Chelsea have backed themselves into a corner by allowing the 26-year-old to run his contract down, and by not negotiating his Real Madrid exit earlier in the summer. Once it gets to January he can sign a pre-contract agreement with the Champions League holders, anyway, so it’s a lose-lose situation for the Blues. It’s too late to sell him, the club must now resign themselves to keeping Courtois for a year and letting him go on a free next summer.
This is Futbol rating: 2/10
Likely to happen?
It’s going to be tough for this deal to go through at this late stage of the window. There simply isn’t much time for all the moving parts of this transfer to be completed. Who knows, though, the player wants to leave so Chelsea could simply rush his exit in order to make some quick cash. We’ll have to wait and see how this one plays out.
This is Futbol rating: 5/10