Belgium make new bid to persuade Courtois to return
A new bid to break the impasse between Belgium coach Domenico Tedesco and Thibaut Courtois has been made but there is time frame for when the Real Madrid goalkeeper may return to the team, Tedesco said on Wednesday.
Courtois has not played for Belgium since June last year when he had a falling out with the coach after not being appointed captain for a European Championship qualifier in Estonia.
Although he suffered a serious knee injury and missed most of last season, Courtois did return to help Real win the Champions League before sitting out Euro 2024 in Germany.
In August, the 32-year-old Courtois, who has won 102 caps, confirmed he would no longer play for Belgium as long as Tedesco was coach but new Belgian football association chief executive officer Peter Willems has travelled to Madrid to try and persuade him to reconsider.
“He informed me some weeks ago about it, so I knew (about the talks),” Tedesco told a news conference on the eve of the Nations League clash with Italy in Brussels.
“He (Willems) asked me what do you think about it? For me, first of all, he has all the rights to do that as a CEO, of course. And second, I was always and I’m still completely open to it. I think that on this topic, everything has been discussed.”
Willems told local reporters on Tuesday that Tedesco was “absolutely the right man in the right place” but that he was eager to solve the Courtois issue.
In a statement on social media in August, Courtois said: “Unfortunately, following the events with the coach and after much reflection, I have decided not to return to the Belgian national team under his management.”
