‘Keylor Navas was not a good teammate to Thibaut Courtois’

Thibaut Courtois’ father has opened up on his son’s frosty relationship with Keylor Navas before the goalkeeper left Real Madrid.

Courtois joined Real Madrid in 2018 in a €35m deal from Chelsea and instantly rivaled Navas for a starting spot in goal.

Things seemed fine at the beginning, but gradually the pair’s relationship became frosty once their rivalry was set in motion. Before long, Courtois had usurped Navas as the club’s first-choice keeper.

Zinedine Zidane’s return in March 2019 initially put the Chilean back in contention before the Frenchman ultimately settled on Courtois. Therefore, Navas departed for Paris Saint-Germain last year.

“His arrival was a bit complicated,” Thierry Courtois told Le Dernière Heure on his son’s early days at the Bernabeu.

”The season had already begun and he was behind in his preparations. But, above all, the problem was that Keylor was still there.

“He had to wait two or three games to be a starter. His integration was not easy because Keylor was always there, there was a difficult internal competitiveness.

“Also external, with the journalists, who were in favor of Keylor. Once he went to PSG, everything was easier.”

Courtois Sr added: “Petr received him very well (at Chelsea).

“He was the first one to come to receive him in his first training, he always gave him advice and helped him to integrate. He was a great teammate who he could always count on. The same cannot be said for Keylor.”