Over the course of this international break Thibaut Courtois has been making all sorts of headlines – and not for the right reasons.
In a series of interviews, while away with the Belgian national team, he has appeared to point the finger of blame in a number of places for Chelsea's poor season, and hint that he is unhappy at Stamford Bridge.
So is all of this part of a plan to agitate his way out of Chelsea, for a move back to La Liga?
In reality, the truth is something far more mundane than that.
The start of all of this was an interview with Belgian TV, where he incurred the ire of some Chelsea fans by announcing the Blues were right to sack Jose Mourinho.
Whatever your stance on that decision by Chelsea, the truth of the matter was a slightly more nuanced quote from the goalkeeper, in which he admitted partial fault for the Blues' league position at that particular moment.
He said: “We returned to training on July 16 and six days later we were already playing a match against New York Red Bulls. We weren’t in a good physical shape.
“We then lost to Arsenal in the Community Shield and went on to make a bad start in the league. A downward spiral set in.
“We needed a change of manager at that point – I have no doubts about it. We drew too many matches and we have also conceded goals too easily. I could have done better with some of them.”
So, less a case of 'he had to go', and more a matter of 'a change was needed – and I was also part of the problem'.
He was then reported as saying that he preferred the Belgian international defence to Chelsea's - something not entirely borne out by the direct quotes.
In this case, he was asked: “Behind which defence do you like to play the most: Belgium or Chelsea?”
His reply was: “I think I've always loved to play with Belgium, but also with Chelsea. At Chelsea, this season, you can't blame it only on the defence.
“It's too easy to blame it on the defenders. Sometimes it's a bad attacking move, a bad pass that gets us out of position.”
So here we have a set of quotes that don't really match with the spin they were eventually given when reported in English.
(All translated quotes via Belgian journalist Kristof Terreur, @HLNinEngeland).
It appears that what has come out of the Belgian's mouth has been somewhat less treasonable than many may have perceived.
The truth of these exchanges is that footballers often come a cropper while on international break, simply because the club PR people that usually hold their hands through interviews are not present.
Quotes are often misconstrued in translation, and used to fit a particular template once in English.
But it is certainly the case that Courtois has been naïve for a senior player making some of the pronouncements he has come out with.
He's an intelligent guy, and possibly should have had at least some forethought as to how these words might be been perceived.
All of which is not to say that Courtois may not be off in the summer, with both Real Madrid and Barcelona reportedly circling for the keeper.
One would hope that having been shown significant loyalty by Chelsea, who shipped Petr Cech out to Arsenal to allow him unimpeded access to the No 1 shirt, that loyalty might be returned to the club by Courtois.
Though, having said that, if a reported pricetag of €100m is met by either Spanish suitor, many fans might be happy to load him onto the Easyjet flight themselves.
One thing is clear from all of this: that Chelsea's long-term planning for the position of goalkeeper, something they have been working on with Courtois since 2011, is now looking far from straightforward.
From this viewpoint it is by no means easy to say who will start between the sticks when Blues kick off the 2016/17 campaign.
