Petr Cech thinks Thibaut Courtois has the ability to become Chelsea's number one - but he will not give up the gloves without a fight.
Current Chelsea keeper expecting tough future fight for No.1 jersey
Petr Cech believes Thibaut Courtois has the ability to become Chelsea's future number one - but he will not give up the gloves without a fight.
Courtois was signed by former Blues boss Andre Villas-Boas last summer after he had helped Genk to the Belgian title.
He was immediately sent out on-loan to Atletico Madrid, where he helped the Spanish side win the Europa League, and is set to remain at the Vicente Calderon next term.
At international level, the 20-year-old Belgian made his debut last November against France and Cech, who signed a new deal last week to keep him at Chelsea until 2016, believes Courtois will challenge him for the No.1 jersey at Stamford Bridge in future seasons.
He told the
Fulham Chronicle: "I think if you look around Europe and you look at the goalkeepers with top quality that you would expect for a Premier League team, then there are not many as talented as Thibaut is.
Best talents
"This is one of the reasons why Chelsea bought him and got him under contract because he is one of the best talents in European football.
"He managed to win the title (with Genk) which gave him a lot of experience and now he's done really well at Atlético. He has a chance to become the Belgian national team goalkeeper so it's great improvement."
He added: "Hopefully it will continue for him and it will be good for Chelsea as well because you need to look to the future and you need to know that one day we will need him.
"I think this is the reason why Chelsea bought him (to be their No.1), but on the other hand obviously I would like to play here for as long as I could which means I need to be better than him. So it depends on me as well."
