Real Madrid: It’s a cruel world
Despite playing well and serving Real Madrid admirably for three straight seasons, Keylor Navas has found himself on the bench more than he would like to be. It’s a cruel, cruel world in football!
“I have gone from winning three straight UEFA Champions League trophies to not playing at all,” Keylor Navas said.
For a man who has usually been quiet about the entire goalkeeping situation in the Spanish capital and showing his fighting spirit, Navas gave us all a little glimpse into how he’s feeling. In all fairness, if it were any other player, he would have said a lot more a lot sooner.
Unfortunately, when all is said and done, football is a business and us Madridistas have seen it first-hand time and again. Players will come and go but Real Madrid will always be there. At least that’s the way president Florentino Perez seems to think when it comes to situations like this.
Keylor was loved, but there was always something looming around his presence as not everyone seemed to be convinced with his performances and his dedication even after all the titles the Costa Rican won as the number one goalkeeper.
Year after year, Perez and the board looked for a replacement and year after year Navas showed us that we never needed one. That was until Thibaut Courtois.
I have been and still am an advocate of the Belgian goalkeeper and purchasing him last summer for €25 million was a steal. He’s young and one of the best goalkeepers on the planet right now.
Having said that, seeing what it’s doing to Keylor Navas breaks my heart. Julen Lopetegui was at least able to keep some harmony by playing the Costa Rican in cup competitions but it seems as though the new boss, Santiago Solari, has other ideas.
You can’t blame him either; it’s difficult to exchange between both goalkeepers and have them both at 100 percent when required. Did it work in the past when the same was done with Diego Lopez and Iker Casillas? To a certain extent, yes.
That doesn’t mean it will also work with Navas and Courtois and I don’t feel as though it’s a risk worth taking.
Next. Real Madrid is keeping a close eye on a young Manchester City striker. dark
With how things look right now, we’ll probably see Keylor Navas leave the club by the summer at the latest and all I can do is hope that this cruel footballing world can at least give him the farewell he deserves.
Hopefully, the club will at least not add to the shameful past they have had when letting great players go and by fixing that now. Raul, Iker Casillas, Cristiano Ronaldo, and others have not been able to get the farewell they deserved so instead of adding to that growing list, let’s show that we have learned from our mistakes.
Keylor Navas has never been someone to cause problems and has always kept his head down and done his job with no fuss whatsoever. He made history at this club and was part of a squad that will be spoken about for centuries to come. Let’s not make a mistake by showing that we as fans do not care. Let’s show our respect and appreciation for the net-minder.
Football always was and always will be a cruel world but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together to make it better.