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Thibaut Courtois can't seem to catch a break. Everything he does (or doesn't, as it were), everything he says (or doesn't) seems to be rubbing people the wrong way.
Even though the Chelsea defense has been an unmitigated disaster for much of the season, the focus of the blame seems to be shifting to the young goalkeeper. And while it's true that miracle saves like the several he pulled off last season have been in short supply, and he seems to have lost some of his penalty box dominance since the injury earlier this year, to blame him for out struggles would be ignoring that we looked just as vulnerable, if not more, with Asmir Begovic in net.
Courtois's professional, diplomatic answers to questions of his future aren't helping of course. And neither are things like this.
"The level of training is higher among the Belgians as there are only world class international players in the squad, while at Chelsea the core squad sometimes trains alongside the youngsters as well."
-Thibaut Courtois; source: Mail
This is apparently an affront to Chelsea. Just as it was a few days ago when he declared his preference to play behind Belgium's back four over Chelsea's. (Though it's not like he's wrong about rating that foursome higher than whatever we've been putting out this season.)
So it's been a bit of a rough week in terms of PR for the young goalkeeper. That said, at least these latest comments about training should be taken in their full context.
Thibaut Courtois on the level of training among Belgium and Chelsea. #CFC (the exact quote) pic.twitter.com/3vS8XWjDch
— Kristof Terreur (@HLNinEngeland) March 26, 2016
If you buy into the idea that national teams are essentially all-star teams, than that perhaps makes sense. It also makes sense in terms of what's in front of Courtois right now, with Chelsea just seeing out the final few games of the season while Belgium have a major tournament to play in and win. While it would probably behoove Courtois to not fall into the media trap of ranking his various teammates, this is hardly the worst thing in the world.