Keylor Navas went from everything to everything, in no time. The heroic starting goalkeeper for PSG during the Champions League Final 8 three years ago now, the Costa Rican is no longer even a spare wheel in his club today. Barred by competition from Gianluigi Donnarumma, who arrived in his paws in the summer of 2021 in the wake of his European champion title won with Italy, the three-time winner of the Champions League (2016, 2017, 2018) learned the hard way that football can sometimes be unrewarding. This summer, at the end of his loan to Nottingham Forest, he also saw young Arnau Tenas (22) arrive in the French capital.
A wish from the new coach Luis Enrique, clinging to the idea of integrating his goalkeepers into his playing principles, but which testifies to the little credit given to the 37-year-old goalkeeper. If he has not played a single minute of play this season (only 70 minutes in pre-season), partly because of his lower back injury which has kept him away from the field since October – and which was no longer even mentioned in the club’s medical points, Navas keeps a cool head. The idea of leaving had inevitably resurfaced in recent weeks, but obviously the goalkeeper does not see it that way.
He wants to regain his number 1 position
During a live broadcast on his social networks this week, the ex-Madrilenian spoke about his delicate situation, specifying that he had no intention of leaving the club 6 months before the end of his contract, if not to impose himself on it: “ It’s difficult, I can’t complain because as footballers we are privileged. But at the athlete level, it’s difficult, we try to do the best possible, to make the effort and to work. Not playing is frustrating for every player “, he first commented, before delivering his personal objectives, in comments reported by A.S..
“Thank goodness I’m on my way back to 100% (from its crack at the level of the lumbar vertebrae), Fortunately I was able to have a good recovery. We have put things in God’s hands, and we are about to fight and try to earn a place, as always.» At 37 years old and while Gianluigi Donnarumma continues to gain thickness despite still lacking footwork, the mission promises to be relatively complicated. At least, he retains the merit of promoting his status as a challenger, the one he once held against Courtois at Real Madrid. And to his credit, it is on these hungry bases that he was able to build a track record as long as his arm in the Spanish capital, where he had already managed to thwart the odds in the past.
