Real Madrid moved quickly to lock up Gold Glove winner Thibaut Courtois before the Premier League transfer window closed on Thursday. After the signing of one of the most prolific net-minders in the world, Keylor Navas showed no signs of relinquishing his starting spot to the new player.
The fans have spoken. According to a poll put out by Marca yesterday, 66 percent of Real Madrid fans want to see the Belgian replace the man who led Los Blancos to three consecutive Champions League titles.
Only 17 percent of the fans wanted to see the Costa Rican international retain the number one jersey and the starting place between the goal posts. Keylor, despite playing well and being the starter for three seasons now, has had a tumultuous career in the Spanish capital.
He was rumored to be at the Madrid airport crying as it was believed that he was being sold after the club was to sign David De Gea from Manchester United. But, as we all know very well, the infamous fax machine mishap prevented the deal from going through.
For the last year and a half, the media has covered Real Madrid’s untiring pursuit of a world-class goalkeeper, forgetting to mention that Navas has been the guy for one of the most successful stints in the club’s illustrious history.
The great thing about this deal is that Los Blancos added a fantastic keeper who was named the best at the World Cup this past summer to go along with one of the best goalkeepers in Europe.
It was no mystery that Kiko Casilla was a lackluster backup to Keylor, leaving former manager Zinedine Zidane to play Navas in nearly every single match. But, with Courtois now under contract for the next six years, for at least this coming season, Real Madrid will have the best keeper setup in the world.
Whatsmore, Keylor will push Thibaut to be better and make sure he is truly meant to be the starter. Even before the signing of Courtois was made official, the Costa Rican had this to say:
"“Tell everyone loud and clear, I have as much enthusiasm for leaving Madrid as I do for dying.”"
That’s some pretty intense stuff right there. This just makes me even more interested in seeing how the training sessions will go with these two. And will there be some kind of healthy rivalry or will it get ugly?
There are so many questions and so few answers right now. I would expect Keylor to remain the starter for at least the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday as Thibaut continues to get accustomed to his new club.
But, as soon as the La Liga season kicks off, it will be one of the best goalkeeping battles of all time.