Chelsea and first-choice goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois will not sit down to discuss a potential new contract until after the World Cup. Until then, goalkeeper rumour will be the order of the day, even if they are “baffling” to the man who’s talked ad nauseam about going back to Spain “one day”.
So far, the two main candidates to possibly replace Courtois have been Stoke City’s Jack Butland (ugh) and AS Roma’s Ailsson Becker (yay!). According to Barcelona-based newspaper Sport, we can add a third name to the list: Jacobus Antonius Peter Cillessen, who goes by “Jasper” for some reason. In addition to Chelsea, the Dutch no.1 has also been linked with Arsenal and Liverpool.
However, the 29-year-old will not come for cheap from the Camp Nou, despite his status as backup to Marc-André ter Stegen. Of the 21 appearances he’s made since joining from Ajax two years ago, only 2 have come in La Liga, but apparently that still makes him “nontransferable”. More likely, it’s his massive €60 million release clause that’s the culprit; Barça, at least until he starts agitating for a move, are expected to be insisting on full payment of it.
While Cillessen himself is not a bad option, combined with his price tag, he very much would be. In fact, it would be rather unbelievable for any team to pay that much for Cillessen.
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