COURTOIS KEEN ON LINK UP AGAIN WITH HAZARD
Goalkeeper seals move to Real Madrid from Chelsea and then says he would like former teammate to join him, while Everton make three late deals on deadline day
Thibaut Courtois has threatened to upset his former club Chelsea club further by suggesting it would be “brilliant” if his Belgian compatriot Eden Hazard joins him at Real Madrid in the future.
The goalkeeper completed his move to the European champions during the final day of the transfer window for Premier League clubs on Thursday, with the fee reported to be £31.5 million (Dh148.5m).
Courtois’s move had come after he had failed to return to training at Chelsea earlier in the week and he deleted an instagram post in which he had thanked the club after he had been the target of criticism from supporters of the London club.
The 26 year old admitted, that with the transfer window for European clubs still open until August 31, that he would be keen to see Hazard also move to Real.
The two have been teammates at Chelsea and both played important parts in Belgium’s run to third place at the World Cup in the summer.
Courtois said in a news conference yesterday of Hazard: “He’s a wonderful player. I’d love to play alongside him again and we’ll have to see what happens in the future. If he ends up here one day, that would be brilliant.”
Going the other way on Thursday to Chelsea from the Primera Liga club was midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who has moved on a season-long loan.
Chelsea’s big business had been completed on Wednesday night as Kepa Arrizabalaga had been signed from Athletic Bilbao to replace Courtois, with the fee of £72.1m a world record for a goalkeeper.
The transfer window did not live up to its hype beforehand with Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur all getting through the day without making any acquisitions. Champions Manchester City did make one signing, with 19-year-old midfielder Daniel Arzani joining from Melbourne City.
Arzani featured at the World Cup for Australia and in confirming the deal, City confirmed they would be looking to loan him out to allow him to gain further experience.
The big movers on Thursday were Everton and West Ham United.
Everton left it late to make their deals, with three new faces confirmed in the final 30 minutes of the window.
The Merseyside club announced shortly before the deadline that Brazilian Bernard had signed a four-year deal at Goodison Park after moving from Shakhtar Donestsk on a free transfer.
That was swiftly followed by communication from Barcelona that agreements had been reached for defender Yerry Mina and midfielder Andre Gomes.
Colombia centre-back Mina would be signing on a permanent deal for a fee of around £27m while Portugal international Gomes would move on a season-long loan for a fee of around £2m.
Bernard, 25, who has been capped 14 times by Brazil and won three league titles with Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukraine, said of his move: “I chose Everton because of all the things I had heard about Marco Silva and, after speaking to him, I was happy with what he said to me.
“The manager made me feel confident about playing here. He is a very good coach and he has achieved really good things at other clubs.”
Meanwhile, West Ham completed a double swoop for striker Lucas Perez and Colombia midfielder Carlos Sanchez, with both players costing £4m.
Perez has been signed from Premier League rivals Arsenal, while Sanchez has arrived from Serie A side Fiorentina.
Sanchez had previously played in England with Aston Villa and he said: “I always maintained the same desire to return and here I am, with the same mission, with the same desire and dream.”