The north-west outfit have been on the look-out for a new shot stopper ever since new City coach Manuel Pellegrini arrived at Eastlands to replace previous manager Roberto Mancini last summer, with neither manager thought to rate England international Joe Hart highly.
In fact, the Chilean even dropped Hart from his starting lineup earlier this campaign, replacing the keeper between the posts with Romanian Costel Pantilimon, but the new man has not impressed either, forcing Pellegrini to look elsewhere for a new keeper this month.
However, City have now been made aware of Casillas’s increasingly unhappy situation in the Spanish capital, where the 32-year-old has once again largely found himself surplus to requirements so far in this campaign by los Blancos, with the Spain international spending the La Liga giants’ league outings warming the substitutes’ bench as compatriot Diego Lopez’s backup.
As a result, Casillas has featured in only eight matches in total so far this season, six of which have come in the Uefa Champions League, while two were in the Copa del Rey, and with this current campaign ending as it does with the Fifa World Cup finals in Brazil, in which La Roja are the defending champions, the Spaniard is said to be desperate to find regular first-team football between now and next summer, even if that means the Madrid-born superstar has to leave his boyhood club.
Casillas is a legend at Madrid, having made his debut for the club way back in 1999, with the player having since gone on to feature in an astonishing 697 matches in total in all competitions for Real, 476 of which have come in La Liga, with the custodian even known as St Iker at the White House after winning five league titles, two Champions Leagues and one Copa del Rey during his time in the capital.
However, despite being the club captain, Casillas has recently fallen out with both new manager Carlo Ancelotti, and perhaps more importantly, president Florentino Perez too over how he perceives he has been treated these past 12 months, and now the player is said to be weighing up the big-money five-year contract offer on the table from City.
Written by Steve Milne – Have your say below 🙂
