Thanks to Vendetta for suggesting this one! So will win? Two of the best young goalkeepers this year....

Both:

Courtois:

De Gea:

You don't know too much of Courtois abilities. Courtois' presence in the box with Atleti is far greater than De Gea's at Atleti. Even when you compare him to De Gea from now it's not one sided on who has the better presence in the box. Also, De Gea is rather skinny and nimble. Not the perfect fit for the EPL and that is why it took him a while to adapt. Courtois is tall and stronger than De Gea. Plus, despite his height, he is extremely agile. He is going to fit right in immidiately. Just like Van Der Sar and Petr Cech.

It is best to compare them now; because when Courtois goes under Mourinho's/Cech's wing and experiences the EPL, there will be no comparison. De Gea is Spain's future star and will be one of the best goalkeepers of the next generation, but he is no where near as complete as Courtois is. Courtois has got exceptional height, agility, reflexes and athleticism. He also has far much less mental errors than most world-class keepers already. The guy literally has no weaknesses.

I'd say Courtois is better than De Gea in terms of positioning, hence why most of the his saves looked undramatic.

But the Premier League is where it's at in terms of testing your GK skills consistently, so I'm going with De Gea at this point. Surprise me when you're in the PL, Courtois!

@Vendetta unlike you I don't claim to know the future. You want to compare them now, go ahead. Like I said before, until Courtois comes to England there is no way I will concede that he is better than De Gea, because he simply hasn't proved it yet. De Gea has physically improved since his arrival and, in my opinion, has the better reflexes of the two. I am also not going to take the naive route of saying "there will be no comparison" if he comes to England. You don't know that. At least my argument takes into account that Courtois could be better. We just have to wait and see.

And please don't talk about mental errors, as there is much more pressure on De Gea to perform as a United player. Manchester United are a bigger club with bigger expectations. You saw how quickly SAF put De Gea on the bench after a couple of blunder and turned to Lindegaard instead. Courtois has not been put under the pressure of playing for a big UCL club in a league that is hostile and more physically demanding towards goalkeepers.

Name me one great goalkeeper who has shown no weaknesses in his career. Every great goalkeeper that I've seen has made mistakes. That's why when you say "this guy literally has no weaknesses" it makes me laugh.

One more point: just because Barca conceded 24 and 21 goals in 09-10 and 10-11 season compared to Real Madrid's 35 and 33, I will never say Valdes is better than Casillas. That's why the amount of goals conceded is not a true reflection of how good a goalkeeper is.

" I don't claim to know the future. You want to compare them now, go ahead. Like I said before, until Courtois comes to England there is no way I will concede that he is better than De Gea, because he simply hasn't proved it yet."

Good point. There is no doubt De Gea can become a better GK than Courtois and there is always that chance, but I just don't see it. I don't see the future, but from a person who watches Atletico as much (or a bit more) as ManUtd matches, it is clear as daylight which keeper is developing into the far better keeper. That is Courtois. The only reason why it is not so clear yet is because he hasn't stepped into the Premier League yet. And there's the reason why I said when he joins Chelsea next season that there will be no comparison between the two. Courtois will develop even faster than he is now. But let me clear something up, I just realized I came off as a douche when I said that sentence. My point is there still will be comparisons of course, but not as close as it is now.

"And please don't talk about mental errors, as there is much more pressure on De Gea to perform as a United player. Manchester United are a bigger club with bigger expectations. You saw how quickly SAF put De Gea on the bench after a couple of blunder and turned to Lindegaard instead. Courtois has not been put under the pressure of playing for a big UCL club in a league that is hostile and more physically demanding towards goalkeepers. "

The same can be said for Chelsea when he joins us, so we'll just have to wait on see how it affects him. Mourinho is also a type of guy who only cares for performances and doesn't like an error prone/nervous player. Yet still he asked Courtois to challenge Cech this season. Courtois could have easily handled it. Plus, the other important moments with Atleti haven't affected him yet. Courtois came to Chelsea only after his breakthrough season at the age of 17 with Genk. The Genk starting keeper at that time got injured at the start of the season and he took full advantage of it. But when we signed him, we immediately loaned him to Atletico. We loaned a then 18 year old to Atletico. He went from only the Belgian League experience along with the young age of 18 to starting keeper of Atletico in one season. He can handle pressure much more easily by the looks of things.

"Name me one great goalkeeper who has shown no weaknesses in his career. Every great goalkeeper that I've seen has made mistakes. That's why when you say "this guy literally has no weaknesses" it makes me laugh."

Keep laughing until he enters the EPL with a bang. Just keep laughing.

"One more point: just because Barca conceded 24 and 21 goals in 09-10 and 10-11 season compared to Real Madrid's 35 and 33, I will never say Valdes is better than Casillas. That's why the amount of goals conceded is not a true reflection of how good a goalkeeper is."

Except Barcelona were in their golden era. Atletico have a fantastic defense, but to give most of the credit to their defense for the reason why Courtois conceded the amount of goals he conceded last season is unfair. Courtois conceded 31 goals last season. If what I remember from Dynastian's comment is correct, 4 from Madrid and 6 from Barcelona. Plus an additional own goal (the other two were each during a Madrid and Barca match) that is not his fault, that makes it 20 goals conceded when you exclude teams as dominant as Real and Barca in the La Liga. Sure the amount of goals conceded isn't the best way to show how good a keeper is. But when a 20 year old keeper concedes only 20 goals excluding Barcelona, Madrid and that own goal, you have to begin to take notice of how fantastic a sign that is.

Look man, I'm not saying I can read the future. I'm not saying there is no chance De Gea could be the better keeper. What I'm saying is that Courtois IS the best young goalkeeper right now and that is what my opinion is. My opinion on De Gea is that he is right behind Courtois on the moment, but when Courtois finally gets to the EPL, at this rate there is no stopping him from shining above most keepers in Europe. Just remember, I'm not ruling out that De Gea could be better.

@Vendetta, you make valid points. We have a disagreement on who the better keeper is. So be it. Chelsea have a problem though. I think the harsh truth is that for Courtois to play for Chelsea, Cech has to leave. I know Chelsea fans don't want to hear that, but I think Cech is one of those keepers who will play until he is in his late 30s, as he is a great professional. He is 31 now, which means he has at least 5 years of top club football left in him. I just don't see how Chelsea can keep both of them. It would not be fair to either if one is on the bench. That is a great dilemma for Chelsea.

A fair point but the answer for that dilemma has been given. As a matter of fact, there are two. Except the second isn't the most acceptable answer.

1. Courtois has said in an interview that the Chelsea GK coach has stated due to Cech's multiple injures, including the near-death head injury he had. Cech could be forced to retire early.

2. The Chelsea staff will make way for Courtois, even if it means getting rid of Cech. Courtois is one for the next legacy of Chelsea. He also has strong connections with the Belgian players at Chelsea. Leading me to think that would make for a better understanding between the team. Along with that, Chelsea only offer 1-year contracts to players above the age of 30. Some players don't like that and just leave for other teams later on. Even legends such as Drogba left for that reason.

@Vendetta, I don't buy the first answer. I did a bit of research and it seems that Courtois made a somewhat unconvincing statement that actually cited Cech's knees and back for his retirement, not his head. But he did come out and say he'll be replacing Cech in two years (by 2015). Either way, like I said before, I don't see how Cech could stay if Courtois comes to Chelsea. It also seems like Barca are sniffing around the situation too, seeing as how Valdes will soon be leaving.

Yes it is the knees that affected him the most in playing, but other large injuries are making it worse as well. Despite the uncertainty both of my answers have, there is no doubt Courtois will replace Cech. He was close to it anyway this season when Mourinho wanted to begin making him play for Chelsea. Whether Cech leaves due to injury or to make way for Courtois, it doesn't quite matter to the Chelsea staff. They are building a new team there and Cech will only stop it. Courtois is going to be at Chelsea by the end of this season. We also will not be selling him (and no one seems to have made a bid yet either), as we don't need the money nor do we find him useless to us. We're not the type of club to sell our best players, but obviously, Rosell wouldn't know that. He just can't take a hint that David Luiz is not for sale either.

Lol, fools. At the end of the day, Ter Stegen will crush both.

#LongliveTerStegen

Courtois > Ter-Stegen

DE GEA!!!!!!!!!!

Courtois for me.