Villas Boas makes his first signing as Chelsea manager

• zocoss

  16 Jul 11, 23:49

  Courtois becomes Villas-Boas's first Chelsea signing as £5m Genk keeper joins

  

  Five-year deal: Courtois

  
  

   

  Andre-Villas Boas has made his first signing as Chelsea manager by bringing Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to Stamford Bridge for £5million on a five-year deal.

  The 18-year-old - widely dubbed as the 'new Petr Cech' - joins from Belgian champions Genk.

  Agent and father Thierry Courtois was summoned to a meeting with Chelsea bosses on Wednesday night and told his son was free to complete his dream move after agreement had been reached on a fee.

  After earning only around £80,000 a year with the Belgian champions, Courtois jnr was always assured of a bumper pay rise at Stamford Bridge.

  Sportsmail revealed a fortnight ago how Courtois feared he may have jeopardised his big chance after going public over Chelsea’s interest and claiming they saw him as ‘the new Petr Cech’.

  He was reprimanded by his father for speaking out of turn, but Chelsea carried on regardless after Villas-Boas approved the idea of drafting him in as a potential long-term successor to Cech.

  After failing with an initial £3m bid, they contacted Genk with an increased offer that has now been rubbestamped.

  Courtois played a key role in Genk’s title success last season, but the club’s attempts to tie him to a new improved long-term deal were dashed by Chelsea’s overtures.

   

   

• TIB783G

  17 Jul 11, 00:02

  Too much of a big leap for him, I feel personally it is just too much.
  He should start working his way up but it seems like it is another grab-and-buy session from chelsea.

• Y_Shun

  17 Jul 11, 21:50

  Watching the videos from youtube... he seemed normal/avg imo.

  Oh well... at least a better backup goalie other than Turnbull and Hilario.