Thibaut Courtois

Chelsea have reportedly urged Thibaut Courtois and his agent to find a club willing to bid £25m to force his exit from Stamford Bridge or accept their offer of a new long term contract at Stamford Bridge.

The 21-year-old 'keeper is currently enjoying his third successive loan season at Atletico Madrid and is yet to make an appearance for Chelsea after joining them in 2011 following a £5m move from Genk.

There have been plenty of rumours regarding Courtois' future with reports in Spain claiming that the keeper is planning to force a move to Barcelona in the summer by handing in a transfer request.

According to Catalan newspaper Sport, the keeper is waiting for a bid from the Nou Camp in order to leave Chelsea on permanent basis rather than return to Atletico on another loan deal.

Sport suggest that Courtois' relationship with Mourinho is weak and the Portuguese boss has already told him that he will be Petr Cech's understudy should he return to west London.

As Courtois will not entertain the idea of playing second fiddle to Cech, Chelsea have reportedly urged him to find a club willing to pay his £25m asking price or accept a renewal offer until 2019 – before leaving the club on another loan deal.

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It is understood that Mourinho would rather sell him at the end of the season as Courtois' current contract will expire in 2015, when the Belgian would be able to leave the club for nothing.

But according to Sport the problem lies in Atletico's inability to meet his asking price and can only offer £12m, while in Barcelona there are some doubts whether he is the ideal shot stopper for their tiki-taka philosophy.

Courtois' agent Christophe Henrotay recently revealed that Chelsea are persuading him to sign a new deal.

"Obviously, Chelsea wants a contract extension to keep Thibaut," he said.

"He belongs to Chelsea, so in the back of his mind he is likely to want to go play there. Then there are many things that can interrupt that idea. Mourinho has not contacted him. He still has two years on his contract and Chelsea is a club that Thibaut and I have a good relationship with."