Courtois goes Awol Chelsea goalkeeper tries to force through move to Real Madrid
Chelsea keeper avoids training and Sarri talks Club target Butland in race to find replacement
Thibaut Courtois has attempted to force his Chelsea exit by going absent without leave on the eve of the season.
Chelsea are left in a race to land a new goalkeeper before Thursday’s transfer deadline, with Stoke City’s Jack Butland and Sevilla’s Sergio Rico on their shortlist.
They are expected to bid for Butland and he is rated as the most likely goalkeeper arrival this week, although he is not the only one on the club’s radar.
Having failed to show up at Wembley to watch the Community Shield defeat against Manchester City, Courtois stayed away from training yesterday when head coach Maurizio Sarri hoped to talk to him.
The situation has echoes of Diego Costa going on strike to force a move to Atletico Madrid last season, as Courtois waits to find out whether he will be allowed to join Real Madrid.
Real have bid £35million and the Belgian’s agent, Christophe Henrotay, last week called on the club to let him go.
Sarri wanted to speak to Courtois face to face, but the 26-year-old has remained in Belgium, where he was honoured by his former club Genk at the weekend.
Courtois, 26, was due to join England centre-back Gary Cahill in the Wembley stands on Sunday, but did not appear and offered no explanation.
He was then meant to join Cahill, Eden Hazard, N’golo Kante, Michy Batshuayi and Olivier Giroud in a training session at Cobham yesterday, but, again, was absent.
Hazard posted pictures on social media of himself back in London and looking happy. He has assured Chelsea he will continue to give his best for the club, despite missing out on a move to Real. Sarri appeared to open the door for Courtois to leave by insisting he wanted only players who were 100 per cent motivated to play for Chelsea and it now appears the club will have to sell him.
Chelsea can wait until after Thursday’s Premier League deadline to seal the sale of the player who has entered the final year of his contract, because Real have until the end of August to sign players.
But Chelsea must sign a replacement before the Premier League transfer window shuts.
A bid of around £25million may be enough to land Butland from Championship club Stoke.
Butland wants to move to a Premier League club to enhance his bid to challenge Jordan Pickford as England’s No 1 and a move to Chelsea would do just that.
He has been at Stoke since 2013 and is well known to Chelsea scouts, who watched many of his performances last season while checking on Kurt Zouma’s progress during his spell on loan there.
Rico is also on the list of goalkeepers who former coach Christope Lollichon has recommended to Chelsea and Sevilla are keen on Batshuayi. Everton will not entertain a late bid for Pickford.
While Courtois tries to force Chelsea into a corner over his future, the club are willing to pay Hazard more than £300,000 a
Hazard accepts he will stay this season, but is unlikely to rush into signing the new contract
week to extend his contract, which has two years to run. The 27-yearold is unlikely to rush into signing it despite accepting he will remain at Stamford Bridge this season.
Chelsea have offered a new £290,000-a-week deal to midfielder Kante, who returned to preseason training and remains happy at the club.
Willian is another staying this season, despite confirming that Barcelona made a bid to sign him. “I am a Chelsea player,” said Willian. “I have always made it clear that I want to stay here. The only club I know of that made a genuine offer for me was Barcelona. But my head is here and I have the intention of staying as long as the club don’t want to sell me.”
Willian returned late from his summer break, but the Brazilian has no problem with Sarri and is looking forward to working with the former Napoli coach.
“This is a new era, with a new manager and I’ve had a good conversation with him,” said Willian.
“Sarri is a coach who likes to play football; he has a style of playing that is similar to Manchester City. We’ve only just started working with him, but in the first few days we’ve seen he is a coach who likes to play the ball out from the back and likes his teams to play football. He will be very important for us.”
Chelsea play their final friendly of pre-season against Lyon at Stamford Bridge tonight, with French sources claiming they are attempting to sign Nabil Fekir.
Liverpool almost signed Fekir this summer, but reports from France have claimed Chelsea are ready to make a bid for the £60million-rated player before Thursday.