Keylor Navas fuels departure rumors with farewell message on social media

The Costa Rican has been relegated to the bench since the arrival of Thibaut Courtois, sparking speculations of a possible January departure

The writing was on the wall for Real Madrid shot-stopper Keylor Navas since Thibaut Courtois arrived to take over the goalkeeping helm of the team. He was immediately relegated to the bench and since the start of September, last year has featured in the starting line-up just once – in the 6-1 thrashing of Melilla in the Copa Del Rey.

The keeper, who has been integral for a lot of Real’s recent success is a favourite amongst the fans and also amongst his peers and managers. It was known that Zinedine Zidane actively protected the keeper during his tenure – despite rumours consistently being generated about him being sold. Fans may remember when the keeper himself stated he cried when the club came close to signing David De Gea from Manchester United a couple of seasons ago.

Rumours of a potential exit have been doing the rounds for a while now, but the Costa Rican’s recent post on Instagram all but reaffirms the same.

In a still of him waving to the thronging fans during a training session at the Valdebebas training ground where he captioned the image “Gracias por todo”, which translates to ‘thanks for everything’.

Now, this is interpreted by the media as a farewell message as he potentially readies to relocate with Spanish winter transfer market opening tomorrow. Local media outlet AS enlists Arsenal, Juventus and Manchester City as possible destinations for the 32-year old, even though neither teams have confirmed interests so far. The former Levante man too has opted to remain tight-lipped about his future.

But if there’s anything that this particular post indicates, then it’s the fact that Navas is indeed moving on from Real Madrid this month which may come as a real blow to those who admire all that he has done for the club.