Thibaut Courtois may have left Chelsea to join Real Madrid under a cloud, but the Belgian custodian has appealed to the Blues fans to try and understand the reasons behind his move to the Spanish capital in a video posted on his Facebook page.
Courtois has two children with his former girlfriend Marta Dominguez, who is Spanish and resides in Madrid, and has cited being close to his offspring as the main motivator behind the move.
Considering the Belgian’s been stalling on a contract extension last year, it’s unlikely that his ‘reasons’ will cut any ice with the miffed Chelsea faithful, but have a look at the video and take a call for yourself:
What is undisputed, however, is the fact that Courtois was excellent between the sticks for the most part of his four seasons with the club.
Two Premier League titles, a FA Cup and the Football League Cup were won while the Belgian was the No.1 at Stamford Bridge.
Notably, his performances in the UEFA Champions League tie against Barcelona were panned for Lionel Messi managed to score between his legs not once, but twice.
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Apart from the fact that he and his camp had a standoff with the club over an extension had seen his stock go down with the fans, but the fact that he went AWOL this week was perhaps the last straw.
Compatriot Eden Hazard and fellow winger Willian, both wantway players, reported back for pre-season training following their exploits at the World Cup, as did the rest of Chelsea’s squad, but Courtois was nowhere to be seen.
The 26-year-old was spotted in Tenerife, of all places, while his teammates got back in shape and with new coach Maurizio Sarri stating that he only wanted players that were motivated, it was only a matter of time before the deal was confirmed.
With Chelsea agreeing a world-record fee for Athletic Bilbao custodian Kepa Arrizabalaga, Courtois’ path to Madrid was clear and he’s now set to be officially unveiled as a Los Blancos on Thursday.