Antonio Conte approves plan to sell Thibaut Courtois — report

Reports Saturday morning from The Times and the Daily Mirror claim that Chelsea are ready to sell Thibaut Courtois after getting the approval of incoming boss Antonio Conte.

While the Mirror's version is sparse on details, The Times claim that Conte's only requirement is that Chelsea get "more than £50m" for the goalkeeper.  Which of course doesn't make much sense — Conte is quite specifically just a "head coach"; he is not in charge of our transfers.  While it is believable that he would approve (or not approve) of certain transactions, that he would tie any such decision to a financial concern is a bit far-fetched.

Chelsea and Courtois might part ways this summer or at other point in the future, but the main motivation behind such a decision will not be Antonio Conte's economic nous.

Courtois's potential suitors are the two usual suspects, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, who, despite having perfectly capable and excellent goalkeepers already, are supposedly looking for someone even better.  Despite his subpar season, Courtois is probably better, especially in the long run than either Keylor Navas or Kevin Trapp.  Which is exactly the reason why Chelsea would be silly to sell.  Unless he's truly unsettled and wanting to leave.