COURTOIS: Blames mistranslation of comments made last season - Wants to prove himself again.

Thibaut Courtois pissed me off for a number of reasons last season if I am honest and I fully expected him to leave the club this summer. A move has never materialised and he remains at the club with every intention of proving himself to be one of the best in the world.

I say that he pissed me off last season and that was based on the fact he got himself sent off twice last season, his performances like plenty of others was never good or consistent enough, he let soft goals in and he made some scathing comments about us while he was away with Belgium.

Back in March after what had been a dreadful season for us, Courtois went away with Belgium and gave an interview with a local reporter about his future, less rated players and complained about the levels of training including training sessions with the youngsters at Chelsea.

He said:

"I do not say yes, I do not say no. I do not know: I still have three years on my contract. We must see what Chelsea want.

It is true that it (this season) has changed me. Until now I had always won a trophy every season. We hope that next season will be better.

The level of training is higher among Devils. There are only world-class players (here), while at Chelsea, there are some players a little less rated and we often train with youngsters as well."

I said at the time it pissed me off so imagine what the other players/youngsters at the club would have felt reading that. I would have been sure to welcome him back to Cobham when he returned. So, based on that interview, the signs were that he wasn't happy here and had every intention of moving on being faced with a season without Champions League football this season at Chelsea.

So to the present day and the fact that he remains at Chelsea. The big Belgian has been quick to point out that the interview he had given was mistranslated and he is very happy here.

He said:

“I am very happy at Chelsea and want to stay. I will try to show in every game that I am one of the best keepers in the world. 

I know that I didn’t have the best of seasons but there are things that I have said in Belgium which have been misconstrued in England. It unfortunately has given the supporters the wrong impression.

It has put me and Chelsea in a bad light, that’s not good. I have never said I wanted to leave or anything. When it looks like I’m being put against the supporters, it’s not nice. 

Am I upset the fans have the wrong impression of me? Yes, of course. I don’t want them to think bad of me. 

In pre-season I showed the quality I have. People may have had doubts about me. 

But I think in the Euros for Belgium I showed I am one of the best and I want to continue showing that. My objective, together with the team, is to get back to winning the League and show that Chelsea are one of the best sides in the world.”

It's true that if Chelsea are going to do everything they can to get back into the top four as the bare minimum this year we need our best players and Thibaut Courtois is one of them. Think around Europe and there are not too many top Goalkeepers available at the moment (apart from Joe Hart - but even he had a shocker in the Euros) so it makes sense to keep Courtois here.

These interviews when players go back to their National teams often cause problems and they should be aware of translation issues. For me, Courtois needs to put in a certain level of performance in a Chelsea shirt week in, week out to win the fans back and to keep his mouth shut.

All eyes on Courtois this year. He owes us at least a 50% improvement this year!