Chelsea stopper to force Barca switch with transfer request
Published:While there’s plenty of speculation over where Chelsea’s senior players will end up after this season is wrapped up, some of the younger contingent are certainly not free from transfer conjecture.
Ashley Cole, John Terry and Frank Lampard are all among a host of over-30s in the Chelsea squad whose contracts are up in the summer, while the future of head-gear sporting stopper Petr Cech is also unclear with Thibaut Courtois due to return from Atletico Madrid.
However, sorting out who is his number one for next season may be easier than Jose Mourinho anticipates with the Belgian keeper reportedly angling for a move to Barcelona.
Courtois, who is 5/2 to help the Rojiblancos beat local rivals Real Madrid in the Champions League final, is into his third consecutive season on loan at the Vicente Calderón. However, he’s made no secret of his desire to either nail down the Chelsea gig or seek a permanent move away from Stamford Bridge next term.
News that Barcelona want the 22-year-old to replace the outgoing Victor Valdes seems to have made Courtois’ mind up in that department though, as Spanish media are reporting he’s considering handing in a transfer request in order to force through a move.
It seems that it’s between Courtois and 22-year-old German keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen who the Catalan club plump for as Valdes’ replacement, with both being held in high regard by their respective clubs.
That ter Stegen plays for Borussia Monchengladbach leads many to believe that his will be the easier signature to capture, hence the thinking that a Courtois transfer request would force Chelsea and Barca to open lines of communication over a deal.
No keeper has kept more clean sheets in La Liga this season than Bree-native, with his 20 from 35 games easily topping the 13 registered by Valdes at Barcelona and making the nine collected by ter Stegen look positively laughable.
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