Another week, another interview where Thibaut Courtois quotes have been misrepresented in the press. The media needed a Chelsea villain and made one.
Nature abhors a vacuum. With no clear villain in the Premier League right now, the media went looking for one.
Generally, it is a striker. The moment they set foot on English soil, Luis Suarez and Diego Costa were hounded by the press. With Costa gone, the media picked the lowest hanging fruit.
Thibaut Courtois checks all the boxes. He comes across as arrogant at times. There are believable rumors about a big club wanting him. A new contract is mysteriously unsigned. The club is struggling and has a manager with a history of bust ups with players. And Courtois is more than willing to talk with the press and give them sound bites to twist and turn until there is a narrative.
The latter keeps biting Courtois again and again. The latest quote originated in the the bowels of the media and bubbled up from there. The Belgian keeper slammed/blasted/hit out at Antonio Conte for subbing Eden Hazard off against Manchester United.
Set aside the fact that Hazard was useless for his time on the pitch other than somehow stealing the credit for Willian’s goal. Too much has been made of taking off a disinterested player in a massive game. Courtois, was naturally asked why afterwards.
Courtois reply was Conte “must explain”. When the rest of his quote is included, that is a perfectly acceptable thing to say:
"“I had not expected him (Conte) to take him (Hazard) off but it is a choice of the manager. He must explain. I can’t look into his head.”"
Now, the English language can be funny sometimes. “He must explain’ can be interpreted as “he will have to explain, I am not him” or “it is demanded of him that he explains”. Courtois meant the former. The media decided it was more fun to eliminate the context and turn it into the latter. Thus, they could spin the narrative that Courtois is unhappy with Conte and Chelsea which fuels the crisis fire they have built since last year.
The media wanted a villain, and they have turned Courtois into one. His words are twisted everytime he opens his mouth. Then the hoard on the internet that looks no deeper than the headlines blasts him. Like it did with Suarez and Costa, it will eventually force Courtois out of the league. Then the media will redirect to another target and the process will begin anew.
Next: Chelsea: Antonio Conte "transfer" rumours offer nothing attractive for anyone
The only safe thing for Courtois to do is to stop talking to the media. They are not even trying to genuinely report what he says. Even if based on falsehoods, that will eventually have implications.