Chelsea Blow As Courtois Reveals He Wants To Stay At Atletico Madrid

Despite the transfer window being closed there is still plenty of gossip doing the rounds in the newspapers so we’ll keep you up-to-date with the latest transfer rumours. Today, Thibaut Courto wants to stay at Atletico Madrid.

Chelsea have been dealt a blow with highly rated on loan goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois claiming he would rather stay at Atletico Madrid than return to Stamford Bridge, according to Spanish publication Marca.

The Belgian stopper signed for Chelsea from Racing Genk in 2011 and was immediately loaned out to gain some first team experience. The 20-year-old enjoyed an excellent season on loan at Atletico Madrid last year, so-much-so that the La Liga outfit brought him back for another season this campaign and the youngster has continued to impress between the sticks as Diego Simone’s side maintain their push for a top-two finish.

Courtois recently broke Atletico’s long-standing record for the longest clean sheet time at the Vicente Calderon Stadium after racking up 820 minutes without conceding a goal at home, and after the game the keeper told Marca how pleased he was to break the record, saying:

 “I’m happy but disappointed by the defeat. It’s a record for the whole team, not just for me.”

Talk soon turned to his future and Courtois confirmed he’s feeling at home at Atletico and claims if he had his way he’d stay beyond this season, telling Marca:

“Everyone knows that I’m very comfortable here. It gives me great joy that the fans give me love and I have it for them too. I love the life, people, colleagues I have here. The decision is not only mine but also Chelsea and Atletico. If I can, I want to stay here.”

The news will surely come as a blow to Chelsea with the Premier League side earmarking him as a future No.1. While sending a player out on loan to gain more first team experience has it’s obvious benefits, it also brings with it the possibility that your player enjoys his stay a little too much at the loan club and it looks like this may have happened in the case of Courtois.

The goalkeeper’s form has seen him break into the Belgian national team set-up where he’s currently battling Simon Mignolet for the number 1 jersey and Courtious will have little chance of beating the Sunderland man to the shirt for next years World Cup in Brazil if he’s sat on Chelsea’s bench next season, so it’s understandable if he’d rather remain at Atletico and continue to play week-in week-out.

Courtois has surely proved he’s too talented to be regarded as a player that needs to go out on loan again, but it’s unlikely the Blues will bring him back to replace Petr Cech in goal just yet as he’ll need some adaptation time in the Premier League, so it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out in the summer.

Read more Chelsea transfer news

What do Chelsea fans think? Should Courtois be allowed to leave for Atletico? Should he be forced to sit on the bench next season, or perhaps you think he should replace Cech? Leave your opinions in the comments section below.