The Chelsea and Barcelona goalkeeper love triangle

Media reports in Spain suggest that Chelsea and Barcelona are ogling each other’s goalkeepers – they just can’t decide who gets who in this little love triangle.

What seems certain is that Victor Valdes will leave Barcelona at the end of the season. His contract expires next summer and he has indicated that he wants a new challenge.

Reports in the Spanish press over the weekend suggested that Barca’s top target as his replacement was Thibaut Courtois, the young Chelsea keeper who has looked excellent during a loan spell at Atletico Madrid that is now into its third season.

The Blues had been keen to have Courtois back at Stamford Bridge to provide competition for Petr Cech. But they agreed to bring in Mark Schwarzer in as a quick-fix and send Belgium international Courtois back to Spain to boost his chances of playing in next summer’s World Cup.

Nonetheless, it appears that the 21-year-old is viewed as Cech’s long-term successor.

So, reports in today’s Mundo Deportivo suggest that Barca have now turned their attention to signing Cech in the summer, which would presumably mean Courtois being promoted into first-team duties.

Except that the Sport newspaper claims that Jose Mourinho is lining up a move for Victor Valdes.

We’ll just have to wait to see who ends up where. But it seems like that Barcelona want to sign a Chelsea keeper.