Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois has admitted that he was sad with the way he had to part ways with Chelsea last month. The Belgium international had been desperate for a return to Madrid this summer but the move was supposedly delayed until the dying stages of the Premier League transfer window where the Blues recruited Kepa Arrizabalaga as his replacement.

Since then, there has been severe criticism and anger among the Blues supporters regarding the nature of the departure but Courtois has indicated that such a situation may not have happened, had the Blues agreed to sell him in advance, he said: “It makes me feel sad and obviously they don’t know all the truth. I think in March the decision was already made and I thought the club would accept it. Then because the transfer was closed I did not show up because I thought it better not to disturb the team and the squad. If I did go there maybe, I didn’t want to be toxic, so obviously it is a pity because I love Chelsea…. Hopefully it will turn around.”

“Since making the move to the Bernabeu, Courtois has made just a single appearance and that came during the league meeting“ against Leganes last weekend which Los Blancos won by a comfortable 4-1 scoreline.“ At present, Courtois is “on international duty with Belgium and he played the full 90 minutes of the thumping 4-0 friendly triumph over Scotland on Friday night.

Belgium are now expected to face Iceland in the opening game of the newly-formed Nations League and they should certainly go into the game with confidence after the dominating performance against the Scots. Iceland, on the other hand, are already facing the prospect of being relegated to League B following a thumping 6-0 defeat to Switzerland in their opener.