He now is voted by the fans as the No1 keeper in Spain.

His superb diving antics have started an Internet craze and he reminds me and others like the great cat Peter Bonetti but with even greater presence.

My question is - how long his his contract, will we be able to keep him from the hands of Real Madrid and Barcelona and will he want to wait for Petr Cech to retire ?

When do we bite the bullet and make him our NO1 ??

Next season, it's time to build a new spine

I love Petr, he has been integral to Chelsea's success...but if we lose Courtois we will regret it. He will be the best keeper in the world...he's already top 10, and he's only 20 (at least in my opinion)

Petr may want to expierence another country at the top level before he winds down.

We have to look to the future and losing Courtois would be stupid as he is a top, top keeper already and can only improve at 20 years old.

Cech arguably IS the best in the world right now though and could have another 10 years left in him.

 

I agree 100% with Star, the Courtios thing could prove to be a headache as both keepers are far too good to sit out on the bench.

I though the boy said himself that he will be on loan next season but in England and then he will join up with Chelsea.

Of course if one of the other big clubs come in for him then there is a chance he will leave.

I cant see him or Cech being ok with being put on the bench.

Has Cech ever been named as a sub for us? I cant remember that ever happening.

Courtois is our future. He will go on to be quite possibly the best keeper in the world. But Cech is still in the top 3 keepers in the world right now, if not at the top of it..The way I see it, we have 3 obvious choices.

 

1)We sell Courtois. Seems like a very stupid decision to me, while Cech is still world class, I don't think he has another 4 or 5 years left playing. He did state tat he didn't want to keep playing into his late thirties.

 

2)We sell Cech. There would no doubt be takers, but could we really sell the man who has been at the forefront of everything we have won? Were it not for him we wouldn't have won anything last year, and there's no doubt in my mind, no other keeper in the world is as good at saving penalties as Cech is.

 

3)We bench/rotate the two like Utd. I can see two problems with this straight away. Would either be happy to getting bench time? And simply, can we afford to have two world class keepers in the squad at once with FFP?

 

Theres no 'perfect' remedy. But in all honesty, I would be far happier if Courtois went on a PL loan first, as was meant to be planned anyways. Getting voted as the best keeper in the Spanish league is no mean feat when you realise keepers like Casillias have been there for over 10 years. So, loan Courtois out next season and welcome him back the following year where Cech will be 32(?) which tbf, is still quite young for a keeper.

 

Also as far as I know, him and Lukaku have 3.5 years left on their contracts.

Barcelona is looking for a new keeper. I suspect both Courtois and Cech is on their shortlist, and if i had to decide i would have to say that i would rather sell Cech for a big lump of money and then make Courtois our No1. He will be the best keeper in the world some day.

It sure is a tough cookie to crack. What i think will end up happening is the young boy will ask to leave.

When is Cech out of contract?

http://poultrykeeper.com/general-chickens/introducing-new-chickens

 

This article suggests that we start introducing Courtois to the squad to compete with Cech for maybe half a season at a time, allowing him to go out on loan for the other half a season where he would presumably play every game.

Damo does a good job of laying down the realistic options we have with him.  We can only hope that he would be happy with a PL loan or two before stepping up, and subsequently signs a new contract.  I'm not ready to sell Cech, but if we lost Courtois we'd regret it for a decade. 

It's also worth noting that the club probably has a plan for this in mind anyway.  When we bought him he had just pulled his club through to the title with some astonishing performances and he broke into Atletico's team almost immediately.  He didn't come out of nowhere and there was widespread interest in his signature before we even signed him.  I'm hoping that whoever makes the decisions knew that his development would overlap with Cech's career here and perhaps discussed that with him before he signed.  Though that all sounds far too organised to be our club. 

Fairly sure he said before he actually signed for the club that Chelsea had indicated to him that they saw him as Cech's long term successor.

 

From that you can assume he was told from an early stage that he wouldn't be competing with Cech for the number 1 slot but would eventually be phased in to replace him. 

The only way I could see us letting him go is as a part of a deal for a player we want. Price wise he will surely fetch the highest ever for a GK. That counts Athletico out, I don't see any players at Barcelona who they would want to trade with that we need, likewise Real. 

Perhaps a loan to someone like Everton (as a part of a deal for Fellani) if they qualify for Europe next season. 

The only way I could see us letting him go is as a part of a deal for a player we want. Price wise he will surely fetch the highest ever for a GK. That counts Athletico out, I don't see any players at Barcelona who they would want to trade with that we need, likewise Real. 

Perhaps a loan to someone like Everton (as a part of a deal for Fellani) if they qualify for Europe next season. 

What if he was included as part of any possible transfer for Falcao?

What if he was included as part of any possible transfer for Falcao?

They would lose out on around 20 million then because thats what this GK is worth.

He is better than De Gea and has more talent.

He should not be sold as he was bought for the exciting bright future we are trying to build at Chelsea.

If this is a headache, then Id like more of them please....

From SSN:

 

 

 

The player's father insisted that Barca had not made any contact with them.

 

"At this moment there is no contract with Barcelona," Thibaut senior told La Derniere Heure.

 

"A few days ago Thibaut had contact with the goalkeeper coach of Chelsea, who will soon report on his progress at Atletico.

 

"When this is done, we will work with Chelsea talk about his future."

 

His agent Christophe Henrotay added: "Thibaut will finish the season at Atletico. He belongs to Chelsea, we'll see later but there is no contact with Barca."

What if he was included as part of any possible transfer for Falcao?

I'm holding onto the hope Torres is a part of the deal, but they need cash, so don't think 2 players would be involved (even if Torres is only rated at 10-15m now - if that)

Maybe cech could do a hilario and stay as a part of the staff

Edited January 21, 201313 yr by MOF 4

Cech is presently the superior player, still fairly young for a keeper and could feasibly play at the highest level for years to come. Why would we get rid of him on the off chance that Courtois may (or may not) be as good years from now? It is a quandary and one we'll have to settle when Courtois' contract runs down to two years. He won't want to be a loanee forever and is too good to be second choice.

He plays in a top league in a top team and is touted to be the best keeper in that league. That sounds like Chelsea and Cech. Why would Courtois sit in our bench or even share part of the games when he really has already what what Cech has.

We had exactly the same situation when we signed Cech, cuducini had just had a very good season. Jose bit the bullet and named Cech as first choice before the season started, something some were unhappy about. In hindsight it was the correct thing to do, no swapping between the 2 so I hope we do the same this time if we bring him back to the club. Sitting on our bench or swapping between the 2 keepers would do no one any good. Either he stays on loan next season then replaces cech when its the right time or he comes back and is first choice.

What if he was included as part of any possible transfer for Falcao?

Couldn't happen, Falcoa is part owned by third parties which would make any player plus cash swap nigh on impossible.