Jose Mourinho casts doubt over future of Thibaut Courtois

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has cast doubts on Thibaut Courtois’ future at the club after publicly backing Petr Cech to carry on keeping clean sheets in the Premier League next season.

Courtois is known to want to speak with Chelsea about his future after spending several years on loan at Atletico Madrid and impressing top clubs around Europe.

It was thought that Mourinho may be tempted to bring Courtois back to Stamford Bridge and use him as his number one next season, but judging from his comments on Cech, that now seems unlikely.

“Petr is almost 10 years playing at the top and there has been clean sheet after clean sheet,” he said.

“At this moment he beats the record of Mr Bonetti but I think probably next year he will beat the record of the Premier League.

“He becomes a historic figure in the Premier League because all his career has been here since 2004.

“Also playing with Chelsea he has a lot of appearances and the best stage for a goalkeeper I think is between 30 and 35.”

Courtois recently admitted he needs to know what his parent club has planned for him in the 2014/15 season.

“About my future, I cannot wait much longer,” he said.

“I need to make a decision with Chelsea as soon as possible, in March, but at the moment I do not really want to talk because there are so many games and you must be focused.”

Courtois has kept 10 clean sheets in 19 La Liga matches this season, more than anyone else.