Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas could leave Real Madrid in the January transfer window. The 32-year-old veteran will quit Real Madrid if he does not find more playing time at the Spanish giants.
According to the BBC, he was quoted as saying: “In September I wanted to leave and I was going to tell the president [Florentino Perez] that I wanted to go, but I decided to be a part of this squad and this club for a lot longer.
“I have always wanted to stay at Real Madrid but I’d like to play and compete more. I will fight to get back into the starting 11.”
Casillas has been a fixture for Real Madrid since 1999, and only had a brief spell where he lost his place in the 2001/02 season, until he broke a bone in his hand last season.
The break in his hand along with his testy relationship with then manager Jose Mourinho meant that Real Madrid decided to sign Diego Lopez from Sevilla last January. Lopez was initially recruited as cover for the Spanish number one, however Mourinho decided to keep Lopez between the sticks after Casillas recovered from injury.
Before Lopez’s arrival, Casillas managed eight clean sheets from nineteen appearances; Diego Lopez managed two clean sheets from sixteen games. The statistics would indicate that Casillas would clearly be the starting goalkeeper for Real Madrid and not Lopez. It would also indicate that the spats between the vilified Mourinho and Casillas ultimately cost Casillas his place last season.
Exit Mourinho. Enter Carlo Ancelotti. Casillas back in the squad? Right? Wrong!
It would seem that Ancelotti has taken note of how Casillas dealt with his issues against Mourinho and as a consequence the less talented Diego Lopez has kept his place. This is of course not to say that Diego Lopez is a bad goalkeeper, but Casillas is still an exceptional talent.
Casillas still has his place in Champions League matches, but he is clearly discouraged by the fact that he has lost his place permanently for La Liga matches. More importantly, it would appear that Spain’s head coach Vincente Del Bosque has also started to lose faith in his captain too.
Del Bosque is realising that maybe Casillas will never get the real playing time needed for him to be at a competitive level at the World Cup. He did play against Georgia in the last international break but he was dropped for the game against Belarus for the in-form Victor Valdes. Undoubtedly it was only a matter of time before Casillas would reveal his desire to find more playing time at a different club.
Maybe his comments to the media are indirectly aimed at Ancelotti and Real Madrid’s president Florentino Perez to get more playing time. Ancelotti’s stance is unlikely to change as Lopez started against Malaga yesterday in a 2-0 victory. Perez, on the other hand, probably won’t care as long as he can build his dream team; Falcao being the latest target for his new Galacticos. In fact he could get shot of Casillas for a reasonable sum of money and save a tiny bit on wages for the sake of financial fair play in order to recruit someone else in January. But that is merely a conspiracy theory.
The big question is what is next for Casillas? His remarks suggest that a move is more than likely to be on the cards if Lopez continues to keep his place for league matches. He won’t continue to be loyal for the club he has served for over a decade if he cannot play. Therefore there should be a whole array of clubs that could fight for his goalkeeping services?
Wrong again. There is nobody who could afford him in La Liga except for Barcelona who will probably keep Valdes as number one as he appears to be having a great season so far.
The same could be said for clubs in the Bundesliga and Serie A. Bayern Munich is the only German side that would have the funds to buy Casillas from Real Madrid but they would never drop Neuer for Casillas. Juventus, Bayern’s Italian equivalent, seem unlikely to do the same with Buffon. Inter Milan may be a potential suitor with their recent buyout but it’s too hard to speculate on how much their new owners are willing to spend on top players at the moment.
This leaves the Premier League and Ligue 1. Manchester City could easily buy Casillas if Joe Hart’s declining form continues as their owners are slowly becoming recognized for their lack of patience. Manchester United, who have had problems with their own Spanish keeper David De Gea in the past could also be a suitor for Casillas as they might look to replace their heavily criticised keeper. However, it is Arsenal that stands out as a potential team that could easily afford Casillas and they are desperate enough to get rid of Wojciech Szczesny for someone better in goal.
In Ligue 1, both mega-rich Paris Saint Germain and AS Monaco will be looking for a more attractive name in goal. PSG’s Sirigu and Monaco’s Subasic have both kept four clean sheets in nine appearances for their clubs and it would not be of a paramount importance for either club to recruit a new goalkeeper. However that has not stopped their spending habits in the past and if Casillas comes knocking then they will be opening the door for him to enter the club.
This is of course all hypothetical at the moment. While there are noises being made by Casillas, one can assume that he will start in Champions League games and if he impresses Ancelotti enough then he could get himself back into Real’s first team. If not then Casillas will be saying adios to not only Madrid but to the rest of La Liga as well.
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