Thibaut Courtois has moved to clarify comments that Real Madrid training was a ‘higher level’ than that of former club Chelsea.
The Belgian international joined the European champions in a €35m deal last month and made the comments to Belgian outlet Het Belang van Limburg last week.
“It was not meant in that manner, I believe here it is a little faster,” Courtois told reporters, in quoted carried by Diario AS.
“To say that Madrid have a very high quality does not mean that Chelsea do not, and my decision to return to Madrid was to move closer to my children.
“I am happy to see Chelsea making a strong start to the league and I know a lot of their fans will understand my situation, and I really loved playing there.
“It makes me sad that this has been misinterpreted and even when I did not show up at training – that was because I did not want to disrupt the squad.”
