Chelsea: Barca served up a long overdue reckoning on Thibaut Courtois

Seriously, the fact that you’ve all come around on this three years too late is ridiculous. Glad you’re here though: Thibaut Courtois has to leave Chelsea.

I have said this for years.  I’ll cite a lot of my previous statistical and rhetorical argument as evidence on the matter. But Thibaut Courtois is perhaps the most overrated player in recent memory.

People have done such an idiotically predictable job praising this utter fool for his entire career it makes you question not only their intelligence but their integrity, not just as journalists and football analysts but people.

Yes, it’s true, he’s a big guy. But did anyone ever even think to watch the man play and actually rate him with their own thoughts as opposed to simply, well, listening to the mob or citing arbitrary facts? Set aside the fact that most of the great goalkeepers of all time are shorter than Courtois. Or that being too tall is a hindrance to good goalkeeping because you cannot quickly get down to the ground, where most shots are. Did I highlight getting to the ground is one of Courtois’ particular weaknesses? Alas, I digress, moving on.

On many occasions, people have noticed Thibaut Courtois is not even in the top-15 goalkeepers in Europe by save percentage. Save percentage is one of the few honest statistics in football. Out of the number of shots he faces, how many does he save? The answer is few. To which the skeptics will reply: “he only faces high percentage shots, though.” And to which I will, of course, retort: Isn’t that the point?  Shouldn’t your goalkeeper bail you out?

And that’s a large group by the way! 15!  Particularly for someone who thinks he’s the best.

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Chelsea generally have a good defence, so Courtois only has to deal with chances with a high degree of difficulty. The goalkeeper should be the defence’s ultimate backstop, the security of last resort. That’s what David De Gea does week in and week out for whatever passes for Manchester United these days.

Every single time there is a bar for Thibaut Courtois to rise to he fails like blind man playing badminton. It’s pathetic. But that’s still not the worst part.

If the only thing wrong with Courtois was his play it would be forgivable. Carlo Cudicini made errors every once and a while, but he was a gentleman who represented the club well. Courtois is the opposite. This boy in man’s clothing could not spell the word gentleman if you gave him a dictionary open to G-E-N.

And yet that’s still not even where this situation is at its worst.

Chelsea put up with it, and it’s pathetic. There has not been one week this season in which Courtois has not griped and moaned about his contract or his future. The blatant disrespect for the club, the badge and its supporters is sickening. Chelsea are pitiful for putting up with it. They should bench him for a full season and then let him go.

The Blues only paid £7 million for him and they have idiotically managed to let him get to the last season of a contract already. Let’s face it: they are not about to make a bundle on his transfer.

Courtois’s notion that he should be the highest-paid goalkeeper in Europe is more revolting than a fish-head cupcake. How out of touch can one person be?

But it still gets worse. Of course after he let Barcelona have their way with him he wants a new contract. You know why? You know who watches Barcelona very closely? Real Madrid. Real Madrid watched the Chelsea – Barcelona match and said “Yup, it’s either De Gea or Kepa” and Courtois knows that.

Now that the door to Real is closed and Atletico have Jan Oblak, Thibaut Courtois wants a new contract. Now he wants a new contract?  He’s truly happy now in west London? Courtois knows now he will have no better options following his complete unravelling against Barcelona (which, by the way, if you had actually been watching Chelsea matches for the past three years you would have known it was not an uncommon showing).

Chelsea should learn to have more self-respect than a selfie-obsessed teenager and toss the Belgian.

Thibaut Courtois has done nothing for Chelsea besides fill his pockets and disrespect the club the entire time. His treatment of the coaching staff, the badge, the club history and even his teammates has been appalling. So long as the eight-hole-open Belgian is at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea will never be a great football club.

If Chelsea can get any money for Courtois they should. But who would pay? No one with a brain. At least Chelsea are a charitable club. No one could ever hold that against them. Whatever it is Chelsea can do to get rid of Courtois then they should.

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A goalkeeper has to be a leader and there’s a void in that position at Chelsea. It’s right between No. 13’s legs.