English fans may finally get to see iconic goalkeeper Iker Casillas play on a weekly basis. According to latest reports, Newcastle United manager, Rafa Benitez is angling for a move for the Spanish stopper.
It will definitely be a big scoop for Newcastle United should they be able to convince the Spanish legend to come to England.
Casillas who has had an illustrious career now cuts a frustrated figure at FC Porto. The Spanish legend has won every major trophy as captain for club and country while playing at Real Madrid. He finally moved on from Santiago Bernabeu after falling down the pecking order in search of regular game time.
Despite putting in tremendous performances last season for Porto, the Spaniard finds himself on the bench this season with Porto manager Sergio Conceicao favouring Jose Sa in goal.
Newcastle United are suffering in the Premier League and are now seeking a win desperately. They will need more signings if they are to become like the Newcastle of old who were cut out for the Premier League.
On the transfer front, things have not been so smooth and Rafael Benitez has made no secret of the fact that Newcastle United need new players. After a very impressive season in the Championships that saw Newcastle return to the Premier League, Benitez demanded more signings of Premier League standard to establish the club in England’s premier competition.
Of his January plans, Benitez said: ‘The priority is to stay in the Premier League – not find the next best player for the next 10 years.
‘We must make sure we have what we need to compete. We have to consider every option and see it’s for us or not.’
In the upcoming January transfer window, Benitez, it seems would want a quality stopper. Newcastle currently plays Rob Elliot in goal with Freddie Woodman and Karl Darlow as the two backups. Although Elliot has kept three clean sheets in his first nine league games and Darlow performing decently-well against Chelsea, Benitez wants an improvement on Newcastle’s goal.
The move might be good for Benitez’s side though who are slowly finding their feet in the big league and will want to cash in on the momentum by bringing in a goalkeeper who save the day with his keeping skills on his day but exactly how much will they need to spend on transfer and wages for a keeper of Casillas’s quality despite his age might convince them against the move.
Moreover, with Benitez angling for moves in other positions, it would not make much sense for him to spend so much in goal with Elliott and Darlow performing reasonably well so far.
