Courtois Reveals His Real Madrid Future Plan: “I Want to Create the Next Courtois”
Thibaut Courtois is already thinking beyond his playing career — and his dream is to help Real Madrid develop their next world-class goalkeeper from within the club.
Thibaut Courtois has no plans to retire anytime soon, but the Real Madrid goalkeeper has already started thinking about what he wants to do once his playing career comes to an end.
At 34, the Belgian still believes he has several years of top-level football left in him. Courtois says he wants to continue playing for another five or six seasons before potentially beginning a new chapter at Real Madrid.
Rather than becoming a first-team manager, however, the goalkeeper has revealed that he would prefer to remain close to the position he knows best: developing young goalkeepers.
“I haven’t decided yet what I will do afterwards, but I’m not sure I want to be a first-team coach. With all the players you have to manage, I would age very quickly,” Courtois said in comments reported by TuttomercatoWeb.
Courtois wants to stay at Real Madrid
The Belgian has repeatedly expressed his desire to finish his career at Real Madrid, and his latest comments suggest that he would also like to remain at the club after hanging up his gloves.
Courtois wants to spend the next five or six years competing at the highest level before turning his attention towards developing the next generation of goalkeepers at Valdebebas.
“For now, I want to play for another five or six years,” he said.
The goalkeeper has not yet confirmed whether he will spend all of those remaining seasons at Real Madrid, although his intention to retire as a Madrid player has been made clear on several occasions.
“Create a new Thibaut Courtois”
Courtois’ most interesting comments came when he discussed his plans for life after football.
The Belgian would like to work with Real Madrid’s academy goalkeepers and help establish a first-class goalkeeper development programme at the club.
“I would like to work in Real Madrid’s goalkeeping department, creating a top-level academy to develop a new Thibaut Courtois instead of having to sign one,” he explained.
It is a vision that could benefit the club in the long term. Rather than having to spend heavily in the transfer market to find an elite goalkeeper, Courtois would like to help Real Madrid develop one of their own at Valdebebas.
For now, though, the 34-year-old still has plenty of saves left to make.
His immediate focus remains on continuing his career at the highest level, but when the day finally comes to retire, Courtois already has an idea of where he would like to be — helping Real Madrid produce the goalkeeper who could eventually follow in his footsteps.
