Ever since Jose Mourinho decided to put young goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in as his first choice over the established Petr Cech, there have been rumours that Cech will be leaving the London club in the near future.
Those rumours intensified this week, with Arsenal, Liverpool and PSG the most heavily linked with the Czech goalkeeper.
But Mourinho moved to distance Cech with any move. Mourinho wants Cech to stay at Chelsea and is adamant that if Cech is sold, it'll be without Mourinho's blessing.
If it was me, if it was my decision, the decision is Petr to stay. That’s it. It would be my decision for Petr to stay. Even against his will.
The Chelsea manager went on to stress that Chelsea would not sell the keeper to any of their Premier League rivals.
For me, decision number one, Petr will stay. After that, the second point is to go, but not in England. The option I don’t want is for him to go to an English club. But, I repeat, I am just the manager and he means so much for this club, and for what he has done in this club I think he deserves everything from it. If the club decision is different to mine, I will accept it.
Mourinho's determination to keep Cech is in contrast to how he treated Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole as they approached the end of their contracts; while he's been happy to see the likes of David Luiz and Juan Mata leave relatively easily.
Cech will have no shortage of suitors, but we'll wait to see where he ends up next season.
