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Chelsea to give up Thibuat Courtois in £50m chase for Falcao
CHELSEA are prepared to offer Atletico Madrid young goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois as bait in their pursuit of £50m striker Falcao.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has set his sights on securing Falcao this summer, and is ready to sanction the permanent departure of on-loan keeper Courtois in order to bring in the Colombian hitman.
To stave off interest in the 27-year-old from Real Madrid and Manchester United, the Blues are set to sweeten the deal for Atletico by allowing them to keep Courtois at the Vicente Calderon.
Falcao is expected to cost potential suitors around £50m this summer, and with Courtois values at about £12m that could hand the West London outfit the advantage.
The Belgian keeper has spent the best part of two seasons on loan at Atletico, where he has impressed between the sticks shoring up the club's notoriously leaky defence.
Los Colchoneros manager Diego Simeone is desperate to retain the shot-stopper next season, with the 20-year-old tipped for a bright future.
Chelsea have publicly maintained their intention to bring Courtois back to Stamford Bridge, but privately they will accept his sale if it helps them win the battle for Falcao.