According to recent reports from Belgium and Spain, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois is likely to extend his contract in the Spanish capital once again.
On Tuesday night, Thibaut Courtois once again saved Real Madrid as they defeated Inter Milan 2-1 in the UEFA Champions League, making a string of important saves at key moments of the game.
Then, the following day it was confirmed that the 34-year old is set to take a break from the Belgium national team during their Nations League games against Italy, Turkey and France this coming autumn, in what can only be good news for the club.
Well, it looks like you can call it a hat-trick of good news. Indeed so, as it is being reported by the Belgian press (as relayed by El Larguero) that Courtois will soon extend his contract until 2028.
It is also said that the club want to keeper Javi Navarro as they see him as the (number one) goalkeeper in the future.
Interesting. Perhaps this is reading too much into it, but there is a lot adding up to suggest that we could see Courtois leave in 2028. In his aforementioned statement about the national team, he spoke about coming back into the fold ahead of Euro 2028.
Could that be his last hoorah? Euro 2028? Then, when you consider that the club see Navarro as the future goalkeeper, he then takes over from the 28-29 season? It is possible.
Still, even in 2028, Navarro will only be 21, which is young for an outfield player, never mind a goalkeeper. And this was meant to be a positive report, so we will keep it that way from now until the end of the piece.
By the time 2028 comes around, Courtois will have given ten years of service to Real Madrid, and he has been outstanding more or less the entire time. He will be 36 at that point, which isn't really that old for a goalkeeper at all.
Perhaps the move could be to loan Navarro out for the 27/28 season, let him play 35+ games for a La Liga 2 side or maybe even a bottom half La Liga team, and see how much he has developed and taken to that level of football.
So, overall, a very positive update, particularly when you consider Real Madrid's policy of only handing out extensions of 1 year for players who are over the age of 30, so it is not like he could have extended until 2029 or 2030 in that regard. Let's see.
