[h=2]Mourinho wants Courtois for No 1[/h] Duncan Castles and Paul Rowan Published: 4 May 2014
Thibaut Courtois returning to Chelsea to replace Petr Cech (VISIONHAUS)
JOSE MOURINHO wants to make Thibaut Courtois his starting goalkeeper at Chelsea next season. The decision to bring the Belgium international back from a three-year loan spell at Atletico Madrid where he helped to eliminate his parent club from the Champions League last week would effectively end Petr Cech’s decade-long run as Chelsea number one.
Mourinho is also considering cashing in on Oscar, the Brazil playmaker, who he implied has conserved for the World Cup energy that should have been directed to Chelsea’s cause. The manager’s willingness to sacrifice two key players forms part of a plan to create a squad with greater potential to win major silverware.
Chelsea’s commitment to meeting Uefa’s Financial Fair Play regulations means that Mourinho must raise much of the revenue — and create room on the wage bill — for new signings by moving valuable players out. With at least one striker — he remains confident of securing Atletico striker Diego Costa — a central defender and a left-back on his recruitment list, the Chelsea manager is prepared to make tough choices in his restructuring.
With just two seasons remaining on the contract Chelsea tied Courtois to when acquiring him in 2011, Mourinho believes that the 21-year-old will be lost to the London club if he is not brought back to the Premier League club this summer. Courtois’ long-term value is higher than that of Cech and his salary lower than the 31-year-old, who would also command a significant transfer fee.
Mourinho, who last week criticised Courtois’ fellow Belgium international Eden Hazard as “not the kind of player to sacrifice himself for the team”, has also had strong words for Oscar. “From August to November or December, he was fantastic,” Mourinho said. “After that, he was going down. Some of [the causes] are from the personal side of the man, not the player. He arrived in the crucial moment of the season in a down. Injuries, couldn’t train, was trying to make the game but didn’t . . . I can imagine, in a couple of weeks, he will be in a high and during the World Cup he will be in a high. There are things you can’t resolve.”
He chose to highlight the importance of two other midfielders to the club’s future success. “ If next season we have,for example, a number nine who we decide deserves to be first-choice”, he said, “plus the stability that [Nemanja] Matic can give by being always available and by Ramires not picking up suspensions, then hopefully we can have more stability.”