Alisson would be a perfect replacement for Courtois. Would match Courtois in most aspects and is much better in playing at passes from the back.

 

And bring Jamal Blackman back to challenge him 

Edited February 28, 20188 yr by DG19

Blackman is nowhere near a PL keeper.

2 minutes ago, Zeta said:

Blackman is nowhere near a PL keeper.

I think he'll be a good backup keeper. 

Or we can keep Willy And bring Blackman back after another season on loan. 

Get Allison no question.

Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest if courtois left

to think we got rid of big Pete for him still makes me feel ill tbh

5 minutes ago, Andy2461 said:

Wouldn’t bother me in the slightest if courtois left

to think we got rid of big Pete for him still makes me feel ill tbh

Courtois is light years ahead of this decades Cech.

Courtois is not even top 5 in the world in my opinion and I don't see us spending 70+ million quoted for Alisson. 

What sort of figure are Real Madrid and PSG expected to bid for Courtois?

The thing is Chelsea fans have been spoillt by having great goalkeepers in the last 2 decades so we've become arrogant and forget how integral a world class keeper is to success. Wait till we go back to another Ed de Goey or Kharine level keeper. Who do you trust our board to replace Courtois with that is as good as him? Not gonna happen. 

2 hours ago, Luca Vialli said:

What sort of figure are Real Madrid and PSG expected to bid for Courtois?

With one year left after this season I would be surprised if we get anymore than 60million 

1 hour ago, Gentian said:

With one year left after this season I would be surprised if we get anymore than 60million 

He'll have to do another season then.

Personally I think this will all depend on whether we qualify for the Champions League. Same with Hazard.

He's ambitious for sure (sometimes to his detriment) but if you have serious offers from teams who are Champions League contenders and you want to win it, then it's hard to stay at a team who yoyos between winning the title and not qualifying for the Champions League.  

If we qualify then I think he and Hazard could be convinced to stay. But we have to more work to do in the market to convince them we can win the thing, not just qualify for it.

That is the challenge for Marina and co. The odd thing is we really should have been doing it last summer from a position of strength if we were pursuing that ambition. We didn't which perhaps means our ambition has changed, and we are happy to just qualify for the time being and compete for the PL. 

Edited March 3, 20188 yr by Spiller86

I think we are going through a phase where RA is deciding to trust Marina in the transfer market just like in earlier times when he threw big money at players.

This is his investment, so I think he will only stick with some thing for so long if it i not working.

13 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Personally I think this will all depend on whether we qualify for the Champions League. Same with Hazard.

He's ambitious for sure (sometimes to his detriment) but if you have serious offers from teams who are Champions League contenders and you want to win it, then it's hard to stay at a team who yoyos between winning the title and not qualifying for the Champions League.  

If we qualify then I think he and Hazard could be convinced to stay. But we have to more work to do in the market to convince them we can win the thing, not just qualify for it.

That is the challenge for Marina and co. The odd thing is we really should have been doing it last summer from a position of strength if we were pursuing that ambition. We didn't which perhaps means our ambition has changed, and we are happy to just qualify for the time being and compete for the PL. 

This tbh. This summer will definitely show where the ambition of the club lies. If we don't strengthen and decide to remain with this group of players, I think it would be safe to say that the ambition of the club has changed because any team that wants to challenge for the title next year is definitely going to need to strengthen really well to catch up to city.

If we don't qualify and Thibo and his buddy Hazard walk it will be that much harder to find a replacement for Antonio. I'd also not be surprised if we reloaded with the money we get for them and win the league again with no Europe to worry about. 

On 02/03/2018 at 20:00, The Liquidator said:

The thing is Chelsea fans have been spoillt by having great goalkeepers in the last 2 decades so we've become arrogant and forget how integral a world class keeper is to success. Wait till we go back to another Ed de Goey or Kharine level keeper. Who do you trust our board to replace Courtois with that is as good as him? Not gonna happen. 

Yeah I agree with that, although I don't highly rate Courtois and I would sell him for a good fee, it would be more difficult to replace him than some people might think. 

David De Gea in his first season was dreadful, always making mistakes, it took some transitioning but he got there.

Although if I'm being honest about De Gea as much as I rate him he also looks better than he is. If any of you recall last nights game, remember the moment when Van Anhalt volleyed his shot on the edge of the box and it was charging to the top right corner? Well, Courtois simply just grabbed it like it was shot right at him. If David De Gea saved that he would have had to have leapt across the box and made it look like a world class save. Because he's small for a goalkeeper he looks better than he is, even though he is very good and probably the best keeper in the league. 

So I wouldn't draw too many comparisons with Courtois and De Gea however, at the same time he is a very overrated goalkeeper. I would actually be very surprised if Madrid came in for him, they would be purely signing him on reputation. If you watch his last two seasons you would know his shot stopping is poor and his one on ones are pathetic. And don't even get me started on penalties. 

1 minute ago, Slojo said:

Yeah I agree with that, although I don't highly rate Courtois and I would sell him for a good fee, it would be more difficult to replace him than some people might think. 

David De Gea in his first season was dreadful, always making mistakes, it took some transitioning but he got there.

Although if I'm being honest about De Gea as much as I rate him he also looks better than he is. If any of you recall last nights game, remember the moment when Van Anhalt volleyed his shot on the edge of the box and it was charging to the top right corner? Well, Courtois simply just grabbed it like it was shot right at him. If David De Gea saved that he would have had to have leapt across the box and made it look like a world class save. Because he's small for a goalkeeper he looks better than he is, even though he is very good and probably the best keeper in the league. 

So I wouldn't draw too many comparisons with Courtois and De Gea however, at the same time he is a very overrated goalkeeper. I would actually be very surprised if Madrid came in for him, they would be purely signing him on reputation. If you watch his last two seasons you would know his shot stopping is poor and his one on ones are pathetic. And don't even get me started on penalties. 

I actually think his shot stopping is generally very good, otherwise agree with you.

His shot stopping is his strong point. 

Anybody else cringe when he receives the ball? He just seems to f**k about with it. 

Just hope we get a good price for him. Never ever though he gave a sh*t about Chelsea. 

He's good at stopping long-range shots, but close shots he's piss poor, shots in the box he rarely saves. And that's what you need good keepers for. 

That effort against Palace summed him up to be fair. So many of those he's let in. De Gea thrives in those situations. 

Edited March 11, 20188 yr by Famous CFC

Which is why We Gea is so good. If you're comparing everyone to him you won't find many who can. Thibo is not on his level. I won't be sad when/if Thibo goes bc there are replacements to be had but if we expect to find a De Gea level GK then we're going to be let down. 

I had this talk with a group of friends and I couldn't name more than a dozen players I'd rather start a team with than De Gea

I think we should be in the market for an upgrade regardless of him staying or leaving. Cech was so much better than him when at same age.

If not an upgrade, in the very least we should be looking to bring in a serious challenger for the starting spot. It makes no sense to give the goalkeeper a free pass.

If Stoke get relegated, Butland could be available on reasonable money. Would love to see what he can do behind a quality defence.

8 hours ago, Orpington_Blue said:

I think we should be in the market for an upgrade regardless of him staying or leaving. Cech was so much better than him when at same age.

If not an upgrade, in the very least we should be looking to bring in a serious challenger for the starting spot. It makes no sense to give the goalkeeper a free pass.

If Stoke get relegated, Butland could be available on reasonable money. Would love to see what he can do behind a quality defence.

It weren't his fault because of his head injury but Cech was all over the place at the same age, 2008 and 2009 he was costing us a lot of goals with his indecision (for prime example watch the highlights of that 4-4 vs Liverpool where he was so erratic he could almost have passed of as a striker for Liverpool), it's easy to look back with nostalgia now and pretend it wasn't the case, but it was.

It's a shame Tibo's all round game is so underappreciated because he isn't pulling a Gordon Banks save from Pele mark 2 every week, control of your area and decision making from crosses and set pieces is much more important an attribute to have than being an amazing shotstopper, why? Because if you crack the former then you seriously limit the shots you have to face and the chances you concede. It's easy to look at a save made by De Gea, Oblak or wherever the grass is greener this week and say "Tibo wouldn't have saved that" when the real question that should arise is would Tibo have let the situation escalate that far in the first place? And more often than not, the answers no.

Edited March 13, 20188 yr by Argo

 

Courtois is basically a net neutral  

 

Edited March 13, 20188 yr by TheChelseaBlues

What the f**k is expected goals and who decides what that number is?