Thibaut Courtois’ agent tells Chelsea to let him complete dream move to Real Madrid
THIBAUT COURTOIS' agent has urged Chelsea to stop messing about and let the keeper make his dream move to Real Madrid.
Chelsea have so far refused to do business with Real for their £40million-rated stopper despite Courtois making it clear he wants to move to the Bernabeu.
The 26-year-old has
told the club he wants to relocate to Spain to be close to his two young children, but the Blues are unwilling to meet his requests and
seem intent on making him stay at Stamford Bridge.
The club appear to be holding out for more money for Courtois - yet risk losing him on a free transfer next summer when his contract expires.
That has led to huge frustration for the player, and now his agent Christophe Henrotay has called on the Chelsea board to show some compassion by selling before the start of the new season.
Henrotay said: "I have been reading everywhere that Chelsea are saying it is up to Thibaut, but he has made it clear to the club that the best option for him is to move to Madrid.
"For him this is a big decision because he wants to be near his family, and there is an offer in place for Chelsea to accept."
Only on Friday, Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri
admitted he was unsure what would happen, but that it is as much down to Courtois whether he will be on the move.
Sarri said: "At the moment Courtois is the goalkeeper of Chelsea.
"I don't know in the future. It depends on the club, it depends especially on him, but I hope Courtois will be our goalkeeper."
Chelsea had been hoping to tie Courtois down to a new long-term deal, but Real have come up with a package that is understood to be a huge increase on his current £100,000-a-week wages.
That has led to criticism from some supporters that money is the major motivating factor - a notion rejected by Henrotay.
He added: "We have seen suggestions that it is about money, and it is true he could get an increase with a move.
"But he has turned down a better offer elsewhere because this is more than a financial decision.
"Throughout this it has important for everyone to be reasonable, and the buying club has come up with a reasonable offer for a player who has one year left on his contract when they know they could sign him without a fee in 12 months.
"Chelsea could get a fair fee for him now and sign a replacement. Or they would still have to sign a replacement next summer, but without getting a fee for Thibaut.
"It is understandable people might be upset because he wants to leave the club, we accept that.
"But this is a human decision based on someone wanting to be close to his children - and that is a reasonable thing too."