Real Madrid are in a bit of a fix at the moment. After letting their legendary goalkeeper depart the club after 25 years of service, and in a deplorable way nonetheless, Los Blancos seem to be having a problem in getting a replacement.
It seemed certain that David de Gea was headed to Madrid and it was the main reason Casillas didn’t have a future with the club in the same place. However, recent developments have indicated that Manchester United hold an upper hand in the whole situation. Reports suggest that Louis van Gaal is not ready to part with the player without including a Madrid player in the deal, two according to recent reports in Marca. The Dutchman wants Sergio Ramos and Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas in exchange for de Gea.
Real Madrid obviously can’t let any of these two players leave. The club announced Sergio Ramos as the club’s new captain and the defender who has spent 10 years at the club cannot leave or else the Madrid management would be in a huge crisis. Selling Keylor Navas is absolutely out of the question. The Costa Rican is the only one capable of stepping in between the posts at the moment and his backup is 23 year old Fernando Pacheco, who has zero appearances for the senior side. Madrid can only let go of Navas if they sign a top class keeper and an adequate back-up keeper.
The club identified Espanyol’s Kiko Casilla as the shot stopper they want to bring in. A deal has apparently already been struck between the player and Real Madrid, but Espanyol president Joan Collet said that Real’s offer was inadequate and had been rejected.
“I said a few days ago that I hadn’t negotiated with Madrid,” Espanyol president Joan Collet told his club’s official website.
“They called me afterwards and we rejected a a 4 million offer. There are no more updates. That figure undervalues the player, and our club. There has been no negotiation. I haven’t sat down, nor will I do so based on those figures.”
What do Madrid do now?
The club is seemingly unable to get David de Gea, on whom Manchester United have maintained an extremely tough stance, and rightly so. Why should you let arguably the best keeper of the league depart so easily to another club? United are certainly doing the right thing and are believed to be prepared to let the Spaniard leave on a free transfer next season, rather than lose him without getting their demands fulfilled. With Hugo Lloris who has been tipped to be the replacement for the Spaniard, fracturing his wrist, the Manchester club will only further tighten their grip around de Gea.
Real Madrid could try and get Manchester United’s other goalkeeper, who as it turns out has plenty of experience in the La Liga. Of course, it seems absolutely lamentable to think about a Barcelona player wearing an arch-rival’s colors, but this is the best chance Victor Valdes can get of playing at a top level as he is clearly going to be a backup option for Manchester United, irrespective of de Gea’s future. He was left out of the squad for the club’s tour of the United States this summer and his days in Manchester look numbered. The player rejected a move to Turkish side Antalyaspor recently and his agent said then that the 33 year-old was happy at Manchester. However, this was before he was left out of the pre-season tour. Real Madrid could have a chance at getting Valdes, and apparently the player’s agent has thought of this logic too.
Sport reveal that he Gines Carvajal, his agent, has offered Valdes to Real Madrid. They report: The player’s agent, Gines Carvajal, has a close relationship with Madrid president Florentino Perez and knows that the club are in a tricky situation following the departure of Iker Casillas to Porto. Therefore, he has offered them the chance to sign Valdes. Carvajal’s advice to Perez has been to sign De Gea on a free next summer and to bring in Valdes in the meantime.
With Valdes getting frustrated at Manchester, this seems like something that could materialize, but of course, it is easier said than done. The player could simply not want to move to Real Madrid, purely because of emotional reasons. One can’t forget that Valdes spent almost 20 years at Barcelona and made over 500 appearances for the Catalan giants. Moreover, it is unlikely that Real Madrid would want him. The Spaniard would only represent a short-term fix and if all three parties can agree on that, this option makes some sense.
There is the clear option of increasing the bid for Espanyol’s Casilla. Casilla of course, was in Real Madrid’s youth side in his young days but the fact that he didn’t get a break in the senior side meant he had to look for another club and it was Espanyol, that eventually took him. Now the player seems keen to return to his former side. Espanyol want an increased offer for the goalkeeper and the inclusion of Real’s young winger Marco Asensio in the deal. Neither of these look like targets Real Madrid can’t meet.
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Real Madrid have got themselves in this fix. Even though Florentino Perez, said that the club did not force Iker Casillas to leave and insisted that the goalkeeper asked for a transfer after an offer came from Porto, there is plenty to suggest that this is not entirely true. If Perez and Real Madrid’s open plan of getting de Gea this summer doesn’t work out, worse still, if they can’t get an adequate replacement of Casillas and de Gea, it will be an intricate labyrinth they’d find themselves in. Some would even argue it’s a self-created, deserved mess they’ve walked into for the way they treated a man who gave his life to the club.