Spanish goalkeeper Iker Caillas is reportedly wanted by both Manchester City and German outfit Schalke 04 according to radio station Talksport as news circulated that the German side are ready to take on Manchester City in the pursuit of signing the Spanish captain ahead of next summer’s World Cup Final’s in Brazil.
The 32-year-old Real Madrid keeper has been continuously linked with a switch to Premier League outfit Manchester City as new manager Manuel Pellegrini has quickly lost faith in England number one, and regular first choice keeper Joe Hart,as the England keeper’s form has come under scrutiny in the last month or so, after well documented mistakes from Hart, who has lost his place to City back up keeper Costal Pantilimon, who has performed well in the three games that he hes deputised for the out of form Hart so far in this current campaign.
Casillas had had some well published problem’s at Real Madrid over the last year or so, as public fall out’s with former manager Jose Mourinho and his fellow team mates at thge club had left the experienced shot stopper on the bench for the majority of the second half of last season, as the Portuguese manager’s reign ended in acrimonious circumstances before Mourinho departed back to Chelsea.
Mourinho dropped Casillas after some poor performances from Spain’s then number one choice, and replaced him with former Villarreal keeper Diego Alves, who has been in decent form in La Liga after taking over the first choice position. New manager Carlo Ancelotti was appointed, and he too kept with Alves for La Liga fixtures, and has so far used Casillas in the Champions League, and Spain’s domestic cup The Copa Del Rey as Madrid are fighting on three fronts.
Casillas stated in an interview to the Spanish Press after the midweek european tie in Turin against Juventus…..
“It is not easy to play games like this when there’s so much time that you are not playing,” he said after the game against Juve.“You notice that you are lacking certain things when there are two weeks between games.
The keeper has voiced his concern about the lack of regular first team football at Madrid, and somewhat recognises he may have to leave to be in line to be Spain’s number one at this summers World Cup, as Victor Valdes is currently ahead of the stopper.
Schalke feel confident that they can put together a good package that will persuade both Casillas and Real Madrid to accept a deal, and steal Casillas from Pellegrini’s grasp and take him to one of the Bundesliga, one of europe’s up and coming leagues.Casillas should be confident of a move away and the Schalke managment team would want to bring a keeper of Casillas quality to replace the error prone German keeper Timo Hildebrand.
Time will tell if Casillas leaves Real…..
By Ben Reardon
@BenReardon1
