Chelsea have been doing a bit of damage control over the past 24 hours, ever since reports out of Italy blew up into brief mass hysteria while other reports spoke of difficulties the club were encountering not just in talks for new players but negotiating new contracts for old players.
We’ve now been assured that Chelsea are confident there’s nothing to these stories about Conte and that any cracks in the relationship will be smoother over soon with actual signings. Meanwhile, as reported by Simon Johnson, Chelsea are also confident that any differences in the Courtois negotiations will be resolved “amicably”.
Courtois and #Cfc will hold more talks over a new deal when he returns for pre-season training next month.More here:https://t.co/NjgpGSuP83
— Simon Johnson (@sjstandardsport) June 16, 2017
As per the report, Chelsea and Courtois have agreed to shelve talks until the start of pre-season in July after Chelsea’s initial offer of £150k in wages was rejected with the 25-year-old looking to match David De Gea’s earnings at £200k.
There is a willingness on each side to come to an agreement. Chelsea are keen to secure Courtois’ long-term future as their No 1, and the 25-year-old wants to stay at Stamford Bridge.
-source: Evening Standard
As Johnson also points out, with Chelsea having sold Asmir Begović and only making plays on backup goalkeepers (welcome soon, Willy Caballero), there’s little reason to think we won’t make every effort to work out a “good contract”, as Courtois himself recently put it.