These are not the last Thibaut Courtois to Barcelona rumors - is it time to Cech in or to Cech out?

There are certain things in life that are simply known.  "It is known," as they say in Game of Thrones.

David Luiz has awesome hair.  It is known.
Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches appeal to our baser comforts. It is known.
Juan Mata is an angel of football, gracing this planet for that infinitesimally tiny, fleeting moment of time eternal.  It is known.
A proper shot of espresso, tamped & pulled by hand, is the essence of the gods. It is known.
So is your favorite beer. It is known.
Thibaut Courtois is the best young goalkeeper in the world. It is known.

Courtois is so good in fact that even our good friend - and by friend I mean annoying man who keeps popping up during transfer rumors involving Chelsea players - Sandro Rosell can appreciate him.  He is able to appreciate, for he has these things called eyes and at least a semi-functioning brain capable of interpreting the signals coming from said eyes.

"Courtois is a fantastic goalkeeper, he is very good. I appreciate him enormously."

-Sandro Rosell; source: Voetbal Primeur via Inside Futbol

To Rosell's eyes' credit, this is not the first time they've appreciated the super-talented Chelsea loanee.  Now in his third season at Alético Madrid, the 21-year-old Belgian has had plenty of time to show off to La Liga, so it's only natural that he has piqued the interest of a club president who's had to deal with one Victor Valdes all these years.  Not that Valdes is terrible, but he's certainly no Courtois.  More importantly, he wants to leave Barcelona at the end of this season for a new challenge - whatever that may mean - so Barcelona will be needing a replacement.

As tempting as it is to dismiss these rumors just like we did with the David Luiz or Fenando Torres ones (for entirely different reasons of course), the cold, hard fact is that at some point soon, Chelsea will have to decide what to do with the whole Courtois-Cech situation.  Ten years senior, Cech surely cannot go on forever, but he's been just as fantastic over the last few years as he's ever been and signed a four-year extension shortly after saving all those penalties versus Bayern Munich.  Meanwhile, Courtois is now almost halfway through his original five-year deal with Chelsea.

So how soon is that some point soon?  Sooner than we'd like, I think.  One thing's for sure, signing Courtois when we did and for so little money as we did (£6-8m?) is going to prove a tremendous bit of transfer business.  It is known.