Belgium signed for the Blues in 2011, but has still to turn out for the west London club.
Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has been given the green light to play against his employers in this month’s Uefa Champions League semi-finals by European football’s governing body after the two teams were paired against each other in Friday’s draw for the semis, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
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Initially, it had been claimed that the brilliant Belgium international would be unable to feature against his parent club owing to a clause in the contract Atleti agreed when taking the shot stopper on loan from the Blues at the start of the season.
That clause was believed to say that the La Liga outfit could still play Courtois in the event of the two sides facing each other, but only if the Spaniards agreed to pay their counterparts a fee, understood to be somewhere in the region of £5m.
However, Uefa then released a statement ahead of Friday’s semi-final draw in Switzerland stating that such a scenario violated their own sporting rules: ‘The integrity of sporting competition is a fundamental principle for UEFA. Both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA disciplinary regulations contain clear provisions which strictly forbid any club to exert, or attempt to exert, any influence whatsoever over the players that another club may (or may not) field in a match.
“It follows that any provision in a private contract between clubs which might function in such a way as to influence who a club fields in a match is null, void and unenforceable so far as UEFA is concerned.
“Furthermore, any attempt to enforce such a provision would be a clear violation of both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA disciplinary regulations and would therefore be sanctioned accordingly.”