Keylor Navas Has Secured Position He Craves at Real Madrid, but for How Long?
August 31, 2015: For most people in Spain, it was simply deadline day; for Keylor Navas, though, it was the dreaded day.
After months and months of speculation, a saga in which he was the other guy was culminating in a flurry of activity and hasty dealings. Navas was a Real Madrid player but one Real Madrid didn't really want, stranded in limbo, powerless, as the desires of other men were rapidly shaping his immediate future.
Without wanting to, his heart not in it, he had signed a contract with Manchester United while having a medical at Real Madrid's training complex in Valdebebas.
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The arrival of David De Gea looming, Navas was forced to sit in a waiting room at Madrid's Barajas airport, his phone by his side, his life and career totally on hold as he waited for a phone call that may or may not come.
The dreaded call never came, however. The paperwork for De Gea's transfer wasn't filed in time, seeing Madrid blame United and United in turn blame Madrid (you can hear how it all went down here).
Plenty involved came out of it looking foolish, but Navas emerged as a rare winner. He'd got what he always wanted, the one thing he craved: He was staying at Real Madrid.
"I don't get angry easily, but we all have our moments," Navas told COPE this week, per Marca. "I cried that night when I found out I was staying, it was a build-up of emotions. I didn't want to leave, Madrid is my home."
Since then, mixed emotions have become positive ones for the Costa Rican.
In his first outing following deadline day, Navas was outstanding against Espanyol to make it three clean sheets in a row to start the new season. Three days later against Shakhtar Donetsk, he made it four. And on Saturday, the goalkeeper was instrumental in Real Madrid's tense 1-0 victory over Granada, denying Youssef El-Arabi and Isaac Success to make it five.
No one has ever done that to start a season at Real Madrid.
"Keylor Navas enters La Liga hall of fame," proclaimed Marca, adding that the gloveman had established Madrid as "Europe's defensive outliers."
It was Navas' weekend. Or that's what is should have been.
The problem for Navas is that, although the De Gea saga has been temporarily closed, his indirect competition with the Spaniard hasn't. Twenty-four hours after the Costa Rican had set a new club record, De Gea was busy, well, being De Gea.
On England's south coast, against Southampton at St. Mary's Stadium, the United man showcased the complete repertoire: Extraordinary reflex stops from close-range strikes, a soaring save from a long-range bullet and a remarkable claw off the line after a glancing header.
United probably should have lost but didn't, De Gea almost the sole reason. How often has that been said in the last 18 months?
It's why he's been so coveted by Real Madrid: He's not just excellent; he's regularly the difference.
But then here's the thing: Navas once looked close to being that too, but now has to get back there after a year of his career was wasted.
When the 28-year-old arrived at the Bernabeu last summer, he was fresh off a season with Levante in which he'd made more saves than any other goalkeeper in the continent's top five leagues, per Squawka.
In La Liga, perhaps only Atletico Madrid's Thibaut Courtois had been better that season, and following the Belgian's departure to Chelsea that summer, Navas would have felt (rightly) he was the division's form shot-stopper heading into 2014-15.
But what was supposed to be a fruitful campaign became 12 months of decay, regression. Stuck on the sidelines, Navas watched Carlo Ancelotti attempt to settle the political war surrounding Iker Casillas by reinstating the iconic keeper as Madrid's No. 1.
Yet, little was settled; the battle lines simply became more fierce, the trenches became deeper and the division grew. Casillas was loved by many but became loathed by others, all while his performances steadily declined to a point in which Madrid reached an undesirable but inescapable reality: He had to go.
The issue, though, was that as Casillas had declined, his replacement, albeit to a lesser extent, had done so too, primarily because of rust.
When he arrived, Navas was billed as a world-beater. Little more than 12 months on, he's trying to remind people of that, to once again build his reputation.
Again, this is where the indirect competition with De Gea is damaging: De Gea's reputation doesn't need building, it's already enormous.
Thus, Navas is going to spend a season battling that. For now he has the position he craves, but how long will he have it? You sense the dreaded day has simply been postponed.
Such circumstances are difficult for Navas and hardly fair on an excellent goalkeeper. But this is football; it's a cold, ruthless business, particularly at the top.
After being caught in the Casillas war, the Costa Rican is now stuck in the middle of the De Gea power struggle, and the late filing of paperwork isn't likely going to change the desires of the respective parties who essentially hold Navas' future in their hands.
Certainly, some will point to De Gea recently signing a new contract at Old Trafford as an indication that he wishes to remain at United. But such a development is a common move—Luis Suarez penned a new deal with Liverpool in late 2013 and was in Barcelona six months later—to protect the selling club if a good relationship exists with the player.
"He [De Gea] is genuinely indebted to Manchester United for how they looked after him all these years. So if he ever goes, I am sure he would like United to benefit," said Sky Sports' Guillem Balague earlier this month.
But what if Navas were to have a blinder this season? Would Real Madrid reconsider their pursuit of the man who eluded them this summer?
It's possible, but this indirect battle between Navas and De Gea is about more than skill and form; Real Madrid's quest for De Gea's signature goes beyond immediate elements.
De Gea, remember, is not only Spanish but a madrileno, a player who would give a greater local identity to an XI currently lacking such a connection. As such, club president Florentino Perez will know that the keeper's signature would be beneficial for his own popularity.
And yet, popularity might not be the only significant part of De Gea's homegrown status (De Gea would be considered a homegrown player at Real Madrid by UEFA, given that he spent three years between the ages of 15 and 21 at a club in the same national association—Atletico Madrid).
As explained by this column last week, the issue of competitive balance is firmly in the minds of the game's governing bodies.
And UEFA president Michel Platini recently outlined his support for increasing homegrown-player quotas to address the stockpiling of global talent in an interview with World Soccer Magazine:
"What will be important in the future is to limit the possibility to have the best players in one or two teams. That is important for competition. If everybody is in one team, this is not so good, and [with] the Bosman rule, it was difficult at the beginning, but people know that now.
I totally support the agenda saying that we need more home-grown players, because it is not possible to fight on nationality. However, we have meetings in September with Mr [Jean-Claude] Junker and the European Commission to work on this.
It cannot be possible that the best teams should have all the best players, or competition itself is finished. At the moment, you have big clubs with a lot of money who can have everybody. We have to think about football in all of Europe – not only in two or three clubs.
"
Thus, De Gea, who's still only 24, represents both a decade-long solution in goal as well as a player who could potentially become important for Real Madrid in meeting future homegrown-player regulations.
It's why Navas will find it extremely difficult to win this battle. This indirect competition goes beyond the mere playing factors; it's about nationality. It's about identity. It's about status. It's about age. It's about perceived ceilings.
Navas is an excellent goalkeeper, but he can't compete with De Gea on that basis, by those factors. Even clean-sheet records might not be enough.
Cruelly for the Costa Rican, then, another day to dread might not be all that far away.
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