Chelsea are feeling anxious over Thibaut Courtois’ long-term future at the club with fears his family situation could cause him to reject a new bumper contract.
The Belgium international has just 18 months left on his Stamford Bridge deal and revealed last week that extension talks had hit a wall with negotiations set to resume at the end of the season.
Courtois, who earns £100,000 a week on his current deal, rejected the club’s proposed offer back in May because it was below his wage demands of £200,000.
Chelsea are still weighing-up whether or not to give in to the 25-year-old’s request, which would see him paid the same as his Manchester United counterpart David de Gea.
The Blues may not be able to retain his services anyway, even if they did offer him a new lucrative deal.
While Courtois is committed to the club he’s been at since 2011 and where he’s won two Premier League trophies in the last three seasons, he has two young children who live in Madrid.
Courtois met their mother, Marta Dominguez, during his loan spell at Atletico Madrid. Though the pair separated in April, she resides with their son and daughter in the Spanish capital.
Due to the strenuous schedule of Premier League football, Courtois rarely gets to spend time with his two children and has admitted that is becoming a serious issue.
There is however, a move that coincides with his wishes to see his children more – Real Madrid.
The La Liga champions have been long-time admirers of the Belgium keeper and are keeping tabs on his situation amid a plot to sign a long-term replacement to Keylor Navas.
Madrid have made a move to sign Courtois before, in 2015, but their approach was rebuffed with Chelsea slapping a £73million price tag on his head.
But this time around the power lies with Madrid. Chelsea will struggle to command such a considerable fee should they fail to get Courtois to pen a new deal before the summer window opens for business and his wish to spend more time with his children makes the move to Zinedine Zidane’s side seem all the more attractive.
