Chelsea will not wait until end of season with Courtois’ new contact — report

Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois sees no rush in (re-)starting contract extension talks that were shelved over the summer, which is a slightly concerning attitude as far as we’re concerned, since he’s now got barely over 18 months left on his deal and we’ve been talking about an extension for over a year now. (Of course for him it isn’t concerning; he’ll get paid one way or another!)

Perhaps in response to those recent stories comes a report from Chelsea insider Matt Law in the Telegraph, which insists that Chelsea want to return to the negotiating table before the end of the season. Good.

With clubs such as Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Juventus potential destinations for Courtois, Chelsea need to move quickly and decisively to convince the 25-year-old to sign on for another five years and continue building his legend at Stamford Bridge.

Like the Mail's report from the day before, the Telegraph also name-drop Stoke City's Jack Butland is the potential replacement for Courtois, which can only raise the urgency getting this done, giving Courtois wage-parity with Manchester United's David de Gea at £200,000 per week, and moving on to other pressing business like getting Eden Hazard’s contract extension sorted as well (and then Conte’s next deal, and so on).