Thibaut Courtois and the rest of the Atletico Madrid team have been unfairly overlooked in recent weeks thanks to Falcao’s brilliance in firing the team up to second in the league. Whilst nothing should be said to undermine the all round team effort of Atletico Madrid, there are certainly some stars who have shone brighter than others this season and Chelsea loanee Courtois is definitely one of them.
The Belgian stopper has been integral to Atletico’s resurgence in the last 12 months since Diego Simeone took charge of the club. He’s since won a Europa League title, UEFA Super Cup medal and been part of a record breaking 20 games so far in 2012/13 and looks set to become one of the continent’s best goalkeepers.
Current Chelsea number 1 Petr Cech said in pre-season that Courtois was ‘better than many current Premier League goalkeepers’. During the past few months Courtois has arguably proven himself to be better than many keepers throughout Europe having kept 10 consecutive clean sheets at the Vicente Calderon and helping Atletico to 11 straight home victories, two club records.
He’s yet to play a first team game for parent club Chelsea, having been loaned out to Atletico immediately after signing from Genk where he won the Belgian Pro League in 2010/11. Since then though Courtois has played over 50 games for Madrid over the course of two years, becoming a vital player and fans favourite along the way.
A wonderful shot-stopper, Courtois has reflexes similar to Joe Hart and David de Gea with numerous point-blank saves and envious agility. He’s also confident in coming and claiming crosses, something former Atletico custodian de Gea struggled with. His sensational speed in diving to reach balls has sparked a new craze at the Vicente Calderon with many fans mimicking his famed reactions, christening it ‘Thibauting‘.
At just 20 years old, Courtois heads a list of promising young goalkeepers such as Wojciech Szczesny, David de Gea and Marc-Andre ter Stegen as the 1.99m Belgian already has a trophy cabinet larger than many players twice his age. With Petr Cech unlikely to be moved from the number one spot at Stamford Bridge, Courtois has earnt valuable development time at Atletico where he is being groomed to one day follow in the Czech Republic international’s footsteps.
Courtois already has 7 international caps for Belgium and is likely to continue to add to those for many years to come. Sadly though it seems that he may not remain at Atletico for the foreseeable future as Chelsea will require him back at some point, but he could be part of another memorable season. Just 8 points behind Barcelona, Atletico could pounce on Barcelona’s first league defeat of the season and close the gap at the top. Even if the team can’t catch Barca, Atletico will be motivated to finish ahead of rivals Real and claim second spot for the first time in many years. Champions League football is the next step for Courtois and an extended loan spell next season should guarantee that.
Many rumours have suggested that Falcao will be coming to Chelsea but the only player certain to be swapping Madrid for West London in the future is Thibaut Courtois, the next great European keeper.
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[…] Madrid have spent big to bring in a replacement for Thibaut Courtois by paying Benfica around €20m for goalkeeper Jan Oblak. The Slovenian international had an […]