Costa Rican Keylor Navas to end all debates at Real Madrid

Keylor Navas, who was up for Best Goalkeeper of the Brazil 2014 World Cup, has finally arrived in Madrid and signed the contract that will tie him to the Merengues for the next 6 years. His main goal is clear: to end, once and for all, the continuing debate about who should be Real Madrid’s goalkeeper.

It will be no easy feat to do so, but a man who only received two goals in the entire World Cup with his home country of Costa Rica, and who was also able to become a standout in La Liga defending the always complicated goal of humble Levante, may just be the right man for the job.

Things at Santiago Bernabeu have not been easy for goalkeepers since December 2012.

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Back then, with Jose Mourinho at the helm, the team had seen La Liga slip away in the first two months of competition. To many, the problem was precisely Mourinho and the tight grip he viciously exercised over his squad, while others started to point fingers at individual players. Ozil, Ramos, Di Maria and, eventually, Iker Casillas, got systematically blamed for all of the issues the team was facing, but Mourinho –who took small measures against all these players– decided to make Casillas his scapegoat.

Convinced of the fact Iker was the spy within the locker room, the man who was leaking everything out to the press thus hurting the group’s ability to surprise its opponents, Mourinho decided to give Antonio Adan –backup until then and without any real first division experience– the chance to prove he was ready for primetime.

Adan started against Celta de Vigo and had a horrendous performance, but Mourinho gave him another shot against Real Sociedad just a week later. Fate would have it that, on yet another mistake by the rookie, he would commit a penalty and get red carded. Casillas, hailed as never before by Bernabeu loyals, came out and helped his team turn around the 1-0 and beat the Basques 4-2.

When it seemed the worst was over and calm had been restored with the captain back in the starting role, Arbeloa kicked Casillas’ hand in the return match of the Copa del Rey quarterfinals, injuring him and keping him off the pitch for three months. Needless to say, those were perhaps the most crucial three months in the season, so Mourinho –who just weeks before had assured he chose Adan over Casillas to play against Celta de Vigo strictly due to performance issues– asked the club to sign another goalkeeper to cover the empty spot and Diego Lopez was brought in from Sevilla for 3.5 million euro.