• Premier League

Mourinho: We have the best goalkeepers in the world

Jose Mourinho was full of praise for Petr Cech as he will make hsi 300th league appearance for Chelsea © AP

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Jose Mourinho has described his two goalkeepers as "the best in the world" and stated that he is not worried about Barcelona's interest in Thibaut Courtois.

Responding to questions about Petr Cech's milestone 300th league appearance for Chelsea, the Portuguese described the Czech as "fantastic", and said his young understudy was "the best young goalkeeper" in the game.

Cech first arrived at Stamford Bridge in the same summer as Mourinho, in 2004, and the Chelsea coach lionised his immediate impact.

"He came here after Carlo Cudicini had been voted player of the year. He came here very young and, first game, Chelsea against Man United, a clean sheet and the first of his book full of clean sheets. "The guy is fantastic. Again, working ethic is amazing, the way he works and the way he lives. He's a very young goalkeeper at 30."

"I don't think many would disagree that we have the best goalkeeper in the world, and the best young goalkeeper in the world. If someone disagrees, it's not by far. If you want to say we have one of the three best, we have one of the three... you can disagree in that direction. It's a very good problem. Our goal is safe and, financially, we are also very safe. Their value in the market is the value of the best.

"We don't have a problem. Teams without good goalkeepers have the problem. We have the best in the world and the best youngster in the world, and other guys now who are giving us security: [Mark] Schwarzer, [Jamal] Blackman..."

As regards to Barcelona's interest in Courtois, Mourinho said it is not an issue. The 21-year-old is now in his third season at Atletico, where he has earned many admirers for his performances.

"At this moment I don't think about it. It doesn't worry me. Our situation is fantastic and everything is under our control. We control the situation. Not Barcelona, Atletico, another team who are interested in our goalkeepers."

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