It’s exactly six months that Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois dumped Chelsea for Real Madrid after signing a six-year contract deal with the Spanish giants in a deal worth £31.5m
Courtois’ move to Santiago Bernabeu didn’t come as a surprise to Chelsea fans due to the goalie’s behavior towards new deal that was proposed by the West London hierarchy in the summer.
On the contrary, spending such mammoth price on Courtois’ signature was a huge shock to Real Madrid fans because of one person : Keylor Navas.
The Costa Rica international — who joined the Los Blancos after an impressive display of maturity and importance with his country during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil — never shown any reason to doubt his qualities throughout his spell as the club’s first-choice goalie.
Though the net minder sometimes had a bad day in office — which could happen to the best goaltender in the world, Navas is one player whom managers and teammates could solely rely on to help them win matches.
He helped the Spanish giants clinched three consecutive UEFA Champions League. He equally helped them to 2016-17 La Liga glory in which he featured in 27 league matches.
Despite his achievements with the team, Florentino Perez was desperate to have Manchester United’s David De Gea between the sticks at Santiago Bernabeu prior to the start of this season.
Having failed to get the Red Devils goalie, the Real Madrid’s president turned his attention to Thibaut Courtois and eventually signed him.
Courtois’ arrival pushed Keylor Navas down the pecking order as the Belgian became the club’s undisputed regular starter.
How has Courtois fared with Madrid — Hit or Miss
Having manned the post in 28 matches for the Los Blancos in all competitions, the 26-year-old netminder has kept 10 clean sheets and has conceded 35 goals in the process.
He often appear too nervous whenever the ball is at his feet which always force him into making some passes that go into opponents path.
In some cases, world-class teams relied on their goalkeepers to keep them moving when things got tough for outfield players. Unfortunately, that couldn’t be said of the Belgian star during Madrid’s hard time at the course of the campaign.
Madrid outfield players were obviously nothing to write about under Jullen Lopetegui, Courtois didn’t help matters either. He conceded too many cheap goals and couldn’t serve as source of inspiration for his out-of-form teammates.
His latest below-par display was against Ajax in the first leg of Champions League round-16 encounter. The goalkeeper failed to properly handle an Ajax’s corner, the ball fell off his arms and headed towards the path of Nicolas Tagliafico who confidently slot into an empty net.
Luckily for Courtois and Madrid, VAR controversially ruled the goal for offside so much to the relieve of the former Chelsea man.
So far, Thibaut Courtois is yet to justify his price tag with Solari’s team. He hasn’t done anything great in goal since his switch to Santiago Bernabeu.
Considering his stats for Madrid so far, Thibaut Courtois has been a MISS and an unjustified punishment to Keylor Navas who has just 13 appearances this season.