Atletico Madrid Criticise Chelsea

Primera Liga

Atletico Madrid have criticised Chelsea for their stance over goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who is due to return to the London club after his loan spell with the Spanish outfit came to an end. Despite signing for Chelsea back in 2011, Courtois has not played for the West London outfit. Instead, he has been spending the last three years on loan at Atletico Madrid where he has enjoyed an immensely successful spell. He has won every major title apart from the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup. There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the future of Courtois.

Atletico are thought to be interested in not only taking him for a fourth consecutive loan spell, but also on a permanent basis as well. However, Chelsea’s demands of a £ 20 million transfer fee is thought to have put of the Spanish champions. Recently, Atletico president Enrique Cerezo criticised Chelsea for not providing the clarity on the 22-year-old’s future. Even though the Chelsea would want to keep Courtois for the long-term, the player is understood to be not happy at being the second choice to Petr Cech. Chelsea also have reservations regarding selling Petr Cech, who is at the peak of his career.

“There’s a little problem, which is Chelsea, I imagine if Chelsea wants him to stay for the season, they’ll keep him and if not, it’s best if we reach an agreement, which is to keep him with us for another season. Players play where they want to play and if there’s a player who is under contract and wants to play for another team, they already know what they need to do, activate their release clause and leave,” said the Atletico president. Despite the criticism, Chelsea are expected to sign as much as three players from the Spanish outfit in the summer.