Rumour: Petr Cech might leave Chelsea as Thibaut Courtois might be made the starting goalkeeper

Thibaut Courtois to replace Petr Cech as Chelsea no. 1 next season?

There is plenty of rumour and speculation about everything to do with Chelsea at the moment and for the most part, you have to take what you read with a pinch of salt. However, when a report appears in The Telegraph, you are inclined to take notice.

This report appeared yesterday concerning the number one Goalkeeping position within the squad and the possible battle between Petr Cech and Thibaut Courtois, the situation with their contracts and Goalkeeping Coach Christophe Lollichon.

It’s “believed” that Jose Mourinho wants Courtois to come back to the club as our number one and to start the season as the same. With Cech being out injured and possibly not fit enough to make the start of the season, Mourinho wants the 22 year old Belgian to start the season here and to sign a new contract with Chelsea.

Once Cech has full recovered and regains full fitness, he would then go into direct competition with the Belgian to regain the number one spot from him. Well that’s believed to be the thought process of the manager anyway.

Petr Cech is only 31 and this season shared the Premier League Golden Gloves award with Arsenal’s Wojciech Szczesny having kept 16 clean sheets in the Premier League this season and setting a new club record of 220 overall.

Goalkeeping coach Lollichon believes that both players should be awarded new contracts but Courtois should be loaned out for another season and come back this time next season with Cech remaining the club’s number one.

The situation with Courtois in particular is intriguing because there is little doubt that he is a class act. He has often been quoted as saying that he does not want to come to Stamford Bridge as a backup Goalkeeper and why should he?

Having featured in La Liga for the past few seasons, Courtois is rumoured to be of interest to Barcelona as they look to replace Victor Valdes and in addition to the Catalan side, Atletico would like to keep him.

I can personally see Courtois remain in Spain for another season as it seems that the whole situation with him coming back here could let to a divide within the club as a whole.

The report states that Roman Abramovich is a massive fan of Cech and wouldn’t be happy seeing him leave at such a young age for a keeper anyway and the same is rumoured to be said about other members of the Chelsea board.

However, it seems that the manager will have the final say and you only have to look back at the situation that played out here when he first came in to give you some kind of an idea of his thinking.

Back then, Carlo Cudicini was our number one and was outstanding. Cech came into the club for a bargain £7m from Rennes and that was it, Cudicini was out and forced to become a backup to Cech. Could the same thing happen with Cech if the youngster was to come back?

Without question both of our Goalkeepers would be in demand if they were to made available for transfer or out on loan. I am reading reports today that Monaco are monitoring the situation and if Cech was to become available, they would be more than interested in taking him back to France.

What do you people think about all this and how do you see the situation playing out? Could you see both of them here fighting for the regular start in the first team or do you see one of them leaving either on loan or on a permanent transfer?