A Spanish newspaper has claimed Barcelona are already trying to put together a deal for Chelsea stopper Thibaut Courtois.
The young Belgian goalkeeper has been constantly linked with a move to the Nou Camp despite being the obvious long term successor to Petr Cech at Stamford Bridge and with Chelsea showing no desire to sell.
However, according to Catalan newspaper Sport, that hasn’t stopped Barcelona trying to change his mind as they seek a long term replacement for Victor Valdes who recently urged the club’s fans to stop trying to get him to do a u-turn over his decision to leave the club at the end of this season.
“The position of the red and white [Atletico Madrid] set was clear: Chelsea do not intend to dispose of the player. Barcelona know the difficulties Chelsea with the situation, but will fight for a move,” reads the report in Sport.
Courtois has been very clear in the recent past that he doesn’t want to go back to Chelsea and sit on the bench, playing second fiddle to Cech and rarely getting a chance at the Premier League side.
That’s the reason for his extended loan spell with Atletico Madrid but the difference is he’s already owned by a huge club, with a natural position in their first team when it becomes available.
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His position at Atletico Madrid is also important because he’s playing games in La Liga and is also appearing in the Champions League. He has no motive to move to Barcelona for playing time alone.
“He understands that this is a momentous decision for the future of the entity to meet the output of most successful goalkeeper in its history,” the story goes on.
You also have to bear in mind that Sport is a pro-Barcelona paper, written in a very biased way that doesn’t take anything into the equation other than the Barcelona angle when it comes to potential players and transfer rumours.
Chelsea have set this up to be very clear. They have someone who will replace Cech and agreement with Atletico Madrid which allows him to play games, gain experience and eventually slot into the first team at Stamford Bridge as a world class goalkeeper.
Jose Mourinho’s past with Barcelona, his sense as a manager and the fact he knows talent when he sees it means that if the Spanish champions want any chance of getting Courtois, they will need to come up with a ridiculous deal because otherwise it’s never going to happen.
See also: Juan Mata – Indispensable or is his January transfer fee just rising?
image: © borkur.net
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