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 keeper 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. It was rumoured last year that the reason for Casillas’ drop was because of using his mobile phone during training however the manager clearly stated that Casillas is not playing purely because of tactical reasons.
Newcastle United did not have a good first few months of the season but slowly came back to their grind. However, their latest slump has seen them drop again and they now stand sixteenth on the table with 29 points from 29 games. They have won seven and drawn eight and lost 14 games and are looking more and more set for the drop.
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. However, with Newcastle unable to sell their existing crop of players, Newcastle has had to deal with a stagnant squad and that has frustrated Benitez.
Newcastle currently plays Martin Dúbravka in goal with Rob Elliot, Freddie Woodman and Karl Darlow as the three backups. Although Dúbravka has been impressive, 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 Dúbravka performing well so far.
