- Chelsea hoping to secure a new contract for goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois
- Report claims Real Madrid have asked him to delay his decision
- Belgian shot-stopper in talks over a £200k-a-week deal, as per report
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Chelsea will undoubtedly be desperate to see Thibaut Courtois commit his future to the club, but reports claim Real Madrid won’t make it easy.
The Belgian shot-stopper has established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe with his level of consistency and ability to be decisive for the Blues.
Since re-joining them in 2014 following a loan spell with Atletico Madrid, the 25-year-old has made 143 appearances in all competitions, winning two Premier League titles and the League Cup as he has been instrumental in keeping things tight at the back.
However, there is already concern over his future at Stamford Bridge, as the Chelsea star has just under 18 months remaining on his current contract, with the deal set to expire next summer.
Naturally, Chelsea are keen to address that to avoid the risk of losing him, but according to The Mirror, Real Madrid are pushing him to put back his decision on signing a new deal, reportedly worth £200,000-a-week.
It’s claimed that the reigning Spanish and European champions will make a decision on whether to sign Courtois or Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea in April, which doesn’t particularly sound like the greatest of sale pitches to convince the former to join them.
Rather than decide on their main target and prioritise them ahead of the summer transfer window, this report would suggest that there is still debate over who Los Blancos will target, and that surely won’t be overly impressive to either Courtois or De Gea.
Nevertheless, Chelsea will hope that they can avoid such a scenario and convince their No.1 to pen a new deal between now and the summer. As even if he were to leave, that would still put them in a stronger position knowing that they don’t risk losing him for nothing next summer or being forced to sell for less prior to that.