La Liga
Thibaut Courtois Perfect Real Madrid Signing Should Deal Finalize
Madrid, Spain – A never ending story is that of Real Madrid’s Goal post. For several years now president Florentino Perez has been flirting with the idea of sending off Keylor Navas. From the links of David De Gea, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Alisson Becker, Jan Oblak and now Thibaut Courtois. Let’s not forget, Navas came to Madrid after having a sensational season with Costa Rica in World Cup 2014 in Brazil. His side that year reached the quarterfinals for the first time ever, mostly do to his performance. Nevertheless, he had already been sought after while at Levante by other La Liga clubs.
However, Thibaut Courois is the perfect candidate to replace Navas, albeit he (Navas) does not want to leave. Keylor’s slow-performance has been of concern for many Madridistas. It is understandably that the World Club’s champions should have the best players, that includes their goalkeeper.
Three Reasons Why Courtois is Perfect for Madrid
#1
Courtois is 26-year-old, that is five years younger than Navas. But, for those of you who think age is just a number, specially those who feel goalies can play forever like Gianluigi Buffon or Oliver Kahn, you’re wrong. In 27 appearances for Real Madrid Navas was able to keep a clean sheet only in six occasions while conceding 1.16th of a goal per game. On the other, Courtois, with 10 more games, managed 15 clean sheets which conceding an average of 0.89 goals per game. If we go back to the 2016/17 season, Navas’ number remain the same and we have date back to his 2015/16 to find good numbers. This was the first season he lead the goal posts and was after Iker Casillas’ departure. He managed to appear in 34 matches with 13 clean sheets and averaged 0.82 goals conceded. However, Courtois’ numbers have relatively remained the same.
#2
Height. Yes, height is very important in the goalkeeper position. Despite what everyone says, Keylor has suffered on standing balls. Many of the goal occasions last season came from free kicks and corner kicks. Albeit, this is a team defensive effort, it helps when your goalkeeper can come out and control the ball with ease. Something that Courtois obtains and is better at. Nevertheless, Navas has shown to be a great shot stopper but this is something that Courtois also excels and does well.
#3
Finally, without Zinedine Zidane at the helm, and newly incoming coach Julen Lopetegui, Navas probably has a exit target on his back. Navas jsut doesn’t have a footballing pedigree as Courtois does. He lacks cachet of a high-profile signing and is not considered a Galactico by Florentino. Nonetheless, Navas has performed better than expected after taking over mythical Casillas. Navas knows he is not wanted at the club but continues to put the best face possible to the situation. But perhaps that is not enough. Perhaps what Navas needs is a change of air, and a move/trade to Chelsea will do him well.
There really is no way of knowing what will be of Navas at this point, but nothing is really concrete at Santiago Bernabeu these days after the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo and Zizou.
