As rumors continue to circulate about Thibaut Courtois leaving Chelsea, the list of potential replacements continues to grow.

Maurizio Sarri may have only just taken over at Stamford Bridge but he has already been thrown in at the deep end. That's because his first order of business is trying to keep three of Chelsea's top stars from leaving the club before the season begins. Willian, Thibaut Courtois, and Eden Hazard are all rumored to want out, and Sarri has promised to have talks with all three of them.

At the time of typing this, the most likely of that trio to leave Chelsea sooner rather than later is Courtois. The Belgian goalkeeper has family in Madrid and is reported to be seeking out a move to Real in order to be close to them. Considering Courtois is considered to be one of the best keepers in soccer right now, Real is likely extremely glad that he is seeking out the move.

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The reason it appears that Courtois already has one foot out the door is that Chelsea seems to have been seeking out his replacement for a while now. It started as a rumored shortlist of three people and that list has continued to grow. According to Sky Sports, Stoke City's Jack Butland is the latest to show up on Sarri's radar. Since Stoke was relegated last season you'd expect someone of Butland's caliber to be picked up by a Premier League team.

via skysports.com

Other teams in the running for Butland are Crystal Palace and Leicester City, however, the England number two is apparently keen to join a top-six side. He might be low down on Chelsea's shortlist though. Other names that are currently rumored to maybe make the move to Stamford Bridge are Gianluigi Donnarumma, Petr Cech, Kasper Schmeichel, and even Joe Hart. We'll let you decide where Butland ranks among those names.

We fully expected the Alisson transfer to start something of a goalkeeper merry-go-round in Europe but as of right now, that is yet to happen. Roma could replace the absent Alisson with Schmeichel, that could see Butland head to Leicester, and that still leaves Chelsea with a Courtois-shaped space in goal. There will be moves, but it seems like a case of who blinks first.

NEXT: MARTIAL AND DARMIAN RUMORED TO BE LEAVING MANCHESTER UNITED