Thibaut Courtois 'Puts Real Madrid on Red Alert' with Fresh Comments on Future

Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has reportedly alerted Real Madrid after saying he wishes to spend more time with his children, who live in Spain's capital, despite reiterating he is happy in London. 

According to MailOnline's Glen Williams, the Belgian is a transfer target for Los Blancos, who are looking to improve their goalkeeping situation this summer.

Courtois spoke after Belgium completed a stunning 3-2 comeback against Japan to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup on Monday. Per Williams, he said:

"I love living in London. Madrid and London are great. The only thing is that my children live in Madrid. I would like them to be close.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to come back, but for me they are very important and I'm going to do something to see them more."

The 26-year-old is in the final year of his contract at Chelsea, and he is yet to sign a new one, meaning the Blues may be forced to sell him this summer or risk losing him for free next year.

On whether he will remain at Stamford Bridge, he added: "I'm not going to talk about that now. I just said that I'll see everything after the World Cup. The most important thing is my children, and I'll decide what's best for me in everything."

Courtois had a mixed night for Belgium on Monday.

There was perhaps little he could do about either of Japan's goals—one being a fine finish into the bottom corner and another a superb hit from outside the area—but he also came close to disaster when he let the ball squirm through his legs and almost over the line:

However, his ability to cleanly snatch a ball from the air and quick-thinking to lay it off to Kevin De Bruyne sparked the counter-attack that led to their last-gasp winning goal:

Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News and football writer Anthony Lopopolo singled him out for praise:

There are more convincing goalkeepers out there than Courtois, but he'd arguably be an upgrade on Keylor Navas and potentially still worth pursuing, particularly if he can be acquired in a cut-price deal this summer.

The best football of his career came in the Spanish capital during his loan spell with Atletico Madrid, too, so Real will hope he can get back to that level by returning to the city.

There's no guarantee he'll go, though—his solution could be to bring his children to London—but the sooner his future is resolved the better it will be for all parties.