If we lose Courtois, it is going to haunt us for a decade. I just can't see the club letting it happen.

I cant see either being happy to sit on the bench and i dont think either will put up with it for more than half a season.

I'll be honest I think the club will most likely sell Courtois but I hope not, I think a big decision needs to be made and I think we should bring him back next season as number one.

I'll be honest I think the club will most likely sell Courtois but I hope not, I think a big decision needs to be made and I think we should bring him back next season as number one.

 

I think it might be the other way around with us keeping Courtois.

I think the decision is getting easier by the day. Inconsistency is becoming more and more prevalent in Cech's game, whilst Courtois continues to cement his position as by far the best goalkeeper of his generation, and very possibly the best goalkeeper playing football today.

 

Club policy is very much on the side of youth nowadays, and I very much doubt Jose was completely oblivious to the talents of the cross-city rival who almost single-handedly won the Copa Del Rey for Athletico Madrid in Jose's final match of note at Real.

 

In any case, by the end of 2014-2015 when in all probability Courtois has ousted Cech, Cech will be 33 and his priorities may have changed. He may be happy to see out the rest of his career with us as no.2 and trying to retake his chances, and if not his contract expires at the end of the season after so he can cash in on a free which is good for him financially and saves the indignity of selling a legend.

Cech is now and has always been a great keeper, forget age as many keepers go on to their late 30's or even 40's  .....he makes some bad mistakes like most keepers, except these seem to be getting more and more regular, has anyone else noticed he struggles to get balls going low to his right??   check your recordings and see how many are conceded in that corner of the goal......   As for Courtois, I have seen him in action a couple of times and he was awesome, this may have been luck on the day and a seeing him a couple of times is hardly an indication of his true form..   My opinion is they should share the position and rotate like all the other players until the best one can be decided on...  But back to the question, well I like a gamble so if I had to choose...Courtois..

Cech is now and has always been a great keeper, forget age as many keepers go on to their late 30's or even 40's .....he makes some bad mistakes like most keepers, except these seem to be getting more and more regular, has anyone else noticed he struggles to get balls going low to his right?? check your recordings and see how many are conceded in that corner of the goal...... As for Courtois, I have seen him in action a couple of times and he was awesome, this may have been luck on the day and a seeing him a couple of times is hardly an indication of his true form.. My opinion is they should share the position and rotate like all the other players until the best one can be decided on... But back to the question, well I like a gamble so if I had to choose...Courtois..

Can't say I have noticed that specifically, but I do distinctly remember him making a good save against west brom and it was low to the right, looked like it was going to go in off the post.

I am sure this is just a patchy spell for Cech and that he will recover, he has proven to be quality and nearly all keepers have the occasional howler.

on the flip side..... if his mistakes become more frequent it will be highlighted by just about every pundit you can think of... and the pressure will then be on Mourinho and the board to make a call.

Actually, they'll have to make a call very soon anyway as the lad's contract with us will soon be up and the club wont just let him walk away for nothing.

Edited November 19, 201312 yr by Zola

The problem with your arguement is that the other players we buy can afford to have bedding in time. If Willian didnt work out then we still had plenty of players to cover.

Making Courtois number one is a massive risk because what if he doesnt hit the ground running? What if it takes him a season or two to get to grips with the league. The only way it would work is if Cech stayed but why would he? He still have years ahead of him. I cant name one team that he would walk into in the world, and lets face it he isnt going to go and join a team that wont effect us some how, he would go and join a Barca or Madrid, a team that would effect us in the Champions league. Who is to say he would want to leave England and could force through a deal to Arsenal.

My point is getting rid of a proven world class keeper to bring in a kid who to be fair looks very promising but hasnt touched a ball in the English league is a massive risk and one i dont think should be taken.

I dont see the harm in bringing Courtois back to England and sending him on loan. Lets have a look how he does against better teams than what Spain has to offer. No offense to Spain but they are a two team country and Madrid under Carlo are a joke so really right now Barca are the only good club he has to play against.

I don't believe that goalkeepers need to settle in to a league. Goalies have the easiest settling in of any player on the field. Their duties are the same every game, in every league, so I don't see why courtois couldn't come straight in and continue where he left off in the spanish league.

The physicality of the premier league is an issue, its different to la liga. Look how crap De Gea was when he first arrived.

He was awful at dealing with crosses. They had to do so much focused work with him to get it sorted.

Yeah that's indeed true, however Courtois is definitely more physical than De Gea -- the latter was really poor with it when he first came here. 

Edited November 19, 201312 yr by MANoWAR

The physicality of the premier league is an issue, its different to la liga. Look how crap De Gea was when he first arrived.

He was awful at dealing with crosses. They had to do so much focused work with him to get it sorted.

 

Difference is, you could see he was crap at it when playing in Spain, Courtois is not. DeGea had lots of potential but wasnt even close to the same league as Courtois is.

Never watched him in spain really...but Im not so sure, if utd knew he was as crap at dealing with crosses I doubt they would have bought him and instead looked elsewhere.

Sure its worked out ok now, but for a while he wasnt playing and a lot of utd fans thought theyd bought a complete dud.

I think too many people are using their hearts instead of their heads, much like those who thought Robbie being our permanent manager would be a good idea.

Never watched him in spain really...but Im not so sure, if utd knew he was as crap at dealing with crosses I doubt they would have bought him and instead looked elsewhere.

Sure its worked out ok now, but for a while he wasnt playing and a lot of utd fans thought theyd bought a complete dud.

They bought him because he had the "potential" to be great at it. He was really raw and far from the genuine article. Everyone could see he was going to be great, just needed some time. Courtis is already great, he doesnt need to "adapt" to a cold night in Stoke

Interesting:

http://www.barcelonafcblog.com/2013/11/22/mourinho-makes-it-difficult-for-courtois-and-barca/?

Courtois has a contract with Chelsea until June 2016 but has been playing the last three seasons on loan at Atletico Madrid, where he has proven his undoubtable quality and adaptation to the Spanish League. The English club has already claimed him for next season and has offered a renewal until 2019 – three more seasons.

Acceptance of this contract extension is the crucial step that Mourinho has put before the Belgian goalkeeper in order to have options to continue playing on loan for another team. The other alternative is to negotiate his exit at a price that pleases the West London club and would be considerably higher than what Barcelona would like to pay for him. Mourinho’s decision is final and has already made known his feelings known to Courtois stating that by not accepting the proposal for a contract renewal, he would return to Stamford Bridge and spend the next two years on the bench without playing.

And anyone who knows the Portuguese coach, knows he is not bluffing. Coupled with the fact that there is no love lost between Mourinho and Barcelona, he would try to make it as difficult as possible for the Catalan club.

Courtois had held talks with Barcelona early this summer and from the feedback, the Catalan club assumed he would be the ideal substitute for Victor Valdes next season. The player himself had publicly gone on record with a nod to his approval to leave the Chelsea camp, as he did not want to be Cech’s understudy. The Belgian is also the favourite of Barca president Sandro Rosell, among the various keepers Barca has touted for the replacement of Valdés. Courtois knows the Spanish League, he’s been successful, the fans would accept him and his game fits in with the style of the Catalan giants.

The only thing that could present a problem would be the cost of the transfer and his wages, which is around 3M euros per year. With Mourinho’s current stance on the keeper, the operation would be very expensive and would be more than the 25M euros that Barca hoped to pay for him.

Andoni Zubizarreta has also sounded out other goalkeepers such as Ter Stegen, with which he has a spoken agreement and his club Moenchengladbach, would be willing to let him go for 10M euros. However, the German does not offer the same guarantees as Courtois does.

Edited November 22, 201312 yr by Zola

Cech is still a world class keeper as he has proved so often although there is no doubt courtois is the future. 
As long as we can hold on to courtois, cech should be the first team keeper and the former on loan at athletico where it seems to be a good fit for both clubs. 

 

Courtois in another 2-3 years. 

Cech is still a world class keeper as he has proved so often although there is no doubt courtois is the future. 

As long as we can hold on to courtois, cech should be the first team keeper and the former on loan at athletico where it seems to be a good fit for both clubs. 

 

Courtois in another 2-3 years. 

He won't wait that long. He's already as good as cech and is only getting better, which is why I think we need to bring him in next year

I think too many people are using their hearts instead of their heads, much like those who thought Robbie being our permanent manager would be a good idea.

100% agree, I think we would all like to say that we prefer Cech with our hearts, but think with your head and Courtois is the better option. As much as I hate to say it no player is bigger than the club and that includes Cech, so if we want Courtois to stay with Chelsea he needs to play for us in the 2014/2015 season.

I think with my head and I still say Cech.

I think with my head and i'l say Courtois.

Cech has been incredible over the years, and is still performing at a very high level. Why fix something that isn't broken? The grass isn't always greener...

From this thread's inception up until a month or so ago Cech was way out in front in terms of who people wanted to stay.

 

Something has changed.

what a save from big Pete!

A howler from Courtois tonight.

 

A howler from Courtois tonight.

 

 

Overrated, rubbish, sell him :)