Mourinho would allow Courtois to stay in Madrid but only if Costa comes the other way.
Jose Mourinho is prepared to let goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois join Atletico Madrid permanently in the summer but only if Diego Costa moves the opposite way to Chelsea, according to the Daily Mail.
Courtois is currently midway through the Belgian’s third successive loan spell at the Vicente Calderon Stadium and it’s been made clear another temporary move is not going to happen.
Atletico manager Diego Simeone is desperate to sign the 21-year-old on a permanent basis and has made it clear the Spanish club will pay whatever is necessary to make that happen.
Mourinho meanwhile has a difficult decision to make, as initially the 51-year-old wanted Courtois to play as Petr Cech’s understudy for a few years.
However, the ‘keeper’s rapid rise to stardom means that the Belgium international is now too good too play as a backup and the Blues boss will have to decide between Cech and the youngster.
Whilst the Czech Republic international has been a stalwart at Stamford Bridge for the past decade, Courtois is already considered to be one of the best stoppers in the world despite his young age.
Yet Mourinho has another option to propose to Atleti, which could see Simeone land his man and the west Londoners solve their problems in attack – a swap deal for Costa.
The 25-year-old striker has been in brilliant form this term since stepping up to fill the void created by the £50m departure of Radamel Falcao and already has 23 goals in 29 appearances.
Mourinho has made signing a new striker a priority this summer – due to the poor showing from current trio Demba Ba, Samuel Eto’o and Fernando Torres – and by swapping Courtois for Costa the side also avoids any difficulties involving Uefa’s new Financial Fair Play ruling.
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