Courtois Nominated for Spanish Award While Chelsea Future Remains Unclear

Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who is on loan from Chelsea, will fight with Barcelona number one Victor Valdes and Malaga's Willy Caballero for the best goalkeeper in La Liga award during last season. The winner will be announced on the 2nd of December.

Courtois was the keeper who conceded the least amount of goals last year in La Liga at Atlético de Madrid. Chelsea bought him for £5million in 2011 but he has been on loan at the Vicente Calderon during three consecutive seasons since then. He has not made his debut with the Blues and last summer he asked manager Jose Mourinho to let him stay in Spain for at least one more season.

The goalkeeper, who is only 21 years old, has become a key player for Atletico manager Diego Simeone -winning the Copa del Rey against Real Madrid last season and the Europe League the previous campaign.

Courtois's future will be in the air again next summer with the Mirror recently reporting that Mourinho wants him back to challenge Petr Cech for the number one shirt. However, the Atletico keeper does not want to be on the bench and other teams like Barcelona are monitoring his situation.

Last week, Mourinho praised the Belgium interantional and assured that Chelsea have no intention of selling him.

"Courtois is undoubtedly the best young goalkeeper in the world with two more years of contract. We are in control of the situation," said the Chelsea coach.

La Liga has also announced the nominees for the rest of the positions and there are two other Premier League stars up for the award. Former Sevilla player Alvaro Negredo will fight for the prize against Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the best striker while Jesus Navas is a candidate for the midfielder's award with Andres Iniesta and Isco being his opponents.