Real Madrid: A case for Keylor Navas
The bigger picture
As much as it might pain some of his detractors, Keylor Navas has been and still is a world-class goalkeeper. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t think this team needs a new goalkeeper.
Navas isn’t getting any younger at 31 and although he has been a good servant for Madrid in the last three years, there is no doubt he is past his peak and a replacement needs to be found sooner rather than later.
More from The Real Champs
- Manchester City hold talks over Real Madrid target
- Real Madrid player confirms he is playing with a fracture
- Real Madrid superstar rejected Premier League clubs confirmed
- Spaniard ready to join Real Madrid instead of Liverpool
- PSG want €100 million Real Madrid player to replace Kylian Mbappe
Having said that, I honestly don’t think any goalkeeper is going to do an exceptionally better job than the one Keylor Navas is already doing. Let’s look at the bigger picture, between 1999 and 2012, Real Madrid had the greatest goalkeeper of all time, Iker Casillas, in net.
In that time, he won just a single Zamora trophy (awarded to the goalkeeper with the best defensive record). Meanwhile, Victor Valdes won five and Jan Oblak already has two and looks set for a third this season.
What both keepers have in common is a cohesive defensive structure in front of them. Both are world-class keepers, but no matter how good you are, without a defensive structure, you’re going to concede a goal, Iker Casillas exemplifies this point and so does Navas.
Look at the late goals Real Madrid has conceded this season, where so often players are left with the time and space to consider how to beat Navas. Such opportunities have been afforded too many times and Navas can’t be blamed for systematic failures that have allowed various opponents similar chances to score.
Real Madrid is a historically poor defensive side and under Zinedine Zidane, that poor defensive record has been magnified.
Conclusions
Keylor Navas isn’t a perfect goalkeeper, however, his big game record more than makes up for his faults. Despite his clear quality, Real Madrid do need to consider a replacement who, at minimum, will challenge the Costa Rican more than Kiko Casilla currently does.
Next: Arturo Vidal out injured for Bayern’s match against Real Madrid
No matter how good a goalkeeper Real Madrid buys, he is going to concede and he will make mistakes without a defensive structure to compliment his skill set; no keeper is ever going to be good enough for Real in this climate.
Defending at Real Madrid, especially in the Zidane era, is a series of last ditch tackles and fantastic saves. You live and die on your errors. In such context, Keylor Navas deserves a lot more respect and it’s time to ditch any delusions that a different keeper is going to fix all our defensive problems.
Navas is not the issue, the lack of a defensive scheme is.