Chelsea transfer news: Thibaut Courtois considering his options

As Chelsea prepare to take on Qarabag in tonight’s Champions League clash the future of Blues goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is once again the subject of media speculation.

The Belgian has 18 months to run on his deal and rumours persist that the 25-year-old could leave Stamford Bridge for Spain before the end of next season.

Goal.com, who reported in June that a Chelsea extension offer “had been knocked back” by Courtois, claim the gloveman is still considering his options.

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Atletico Madrid (for whom he spent three seasons on loan earlier in his career) have made no secret of their desire to sign him, and there have also been links to Barcelona and Real Madrid this year.

Asked by reporters about his future en route to Qarabag, Courtois replied: “Regarding my contract, that’s the thing where Chelsea must deal with my agent. I don’t think there have been any new developments.”

He then batted away questions about his plans, saying: “The thing for me, the most important thing, is to perform well for myself and the team. We have so many games at the moment and I prefer to focus on the team’s games, my own performances. There will be time enough towards the end of the season to have talks.”

According to The Guardian, a sticking point to any new deal at Chelsea is wages, with Courtois’ agent, Christophe Henrotay, believing his client’s pay packet should be “closer to the £200,000 a week level enjoyed by Eden Hazard at Stamford Bridge”.

Meanwhile there is bad news for the Blues with caughtoffside.com passing on information from Spanish sources that their hopes of landing Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi in January are fading faster than Liverpool in the second-half.

Apparently Real Madrid are “preparing to pay around £88million” to sign the 24-year-old Argentine ace as coach Zinedine Zidane looks to get his team back firing on all cylinders.

The European champions have endured a torrid start to the season and they intend to snap up Icardi before Chelsea have time to open their cheque-book.