AS.com

The surprise decision of Victor Valdés not to renew his contract with Barcelona has left the Catalan club with an urgent need to find a replacement for the Spanish international. In England Thibaut Courtois' name is being talked about as the favourite to replace Valdés, though he is not the only one.

Tabloid newspaper 'The Sun' published today that Barcelona's favourite to take over in the goalmouth in 2014 is current Atlético Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois, who will return to Chelsea at the end of this season as his loan deal comes to an end. The English club however do not have any intention of selling him as they believe he is their future number one. They are looking for him to compete with Petr Cech next season and possibly take the starting place off him.

In any event, Barcelona have been following various keepers around Europe during the last year and everything points to them signing at least one goalie soon, even though Valdés' contract isn't up until 2014, as their second keeper, José Manuel Pinto, is in his last season. Barça 'B' keeper Oier Olazábal is yet to convince and so the Barcelona notebook is filled with name such as: De Gea (Manchester United), Guaita (Valencia), Ter Stegen (Borussia Moenchengladbach) and Stekelenburg (Roma).