Chelsea target £80m English duo as replacement for Real Madrid bound star – report

Chelsea are tracking a couple of English goalkeepers should they lose out on Thibaut Courtois to Real Madrid, according to The Sun.

While the Belgian has been linked with a move to London, the report claims that Jordan Pickford of Everton and Jack Butland of Stoke City are the two keepers Chelsea are interested in.

Chelsea would want to have a home-grown goalkeeper and Courtois could be an option for Madrid. Butland would be the cheaper of the two keepers as Stoke have been relegated from the Premier League. He would cost around £20m.

Pickford’s stock has risen considerably after his heroics in the World Cup and could cost nearly £60m. The Everton keeper had only moved at the start of last season from Sunderland but the report claims that he could be enticed by a move to a bigger club.

While Courtois is certainly someone who provides a lot of quality to the side, it does seem likely that he will leave us sooner or later.

It does make some sense for us to look to replace the Belgian with an English player as it would provide us with another home-grown player. Either of Butland or Pickford would not be bad options.

Ideally, Butland would be the smart signing to have since he would be cheaper but Pickford is coming off an incredible showing at the World Cup.

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Chelsea have to do some business in the window, as the only player we have brought in is Jorginho but if we have a choice, we should keep Courtois and try to convince him to extend his stay at the Bridge.