When Thibaut Courtois was pushing for his move from Chelsea to Real Madrid, Costa Rican Keylor Navas was determined to prove that he was better than the Belgian goalkeeper and keep his place. With Zinedine Zidane back in the Real Madrid driving seat, it seems like Keylor Navas’ first team wishes might once again become a reality.
Courtois will probably now go down the pecking order and not even a world renowned company which deals with improving a website’s ranking such as Miami SEO can share any helpful advice to the lanky Belgian. Considering that Real Madrid’s other reserve goalkeeper is Zidane’s son, one can imagine Courtois dropping to third choice in the Real Madrid goalkeeper rankings.
Humble and Hard Working
One of the reasons that Zinedine Zidan likes Keylor Navas so much is the fact that the Costa Rican is very humble both on and off the pitch. He has always said that it is a privilege for him to play for both Real Madrid and his national team and that no matter how difficult his previous Real Madrid seasons might have been, he will always find time for the national team.
And it’s not just being humble, Navas always emphasizes how important hard work is for him. This is very clear from the fact that while he was at Real Madrid he was underappreciated by many football pundits and analysts, but always managed to prove them wrong by producing consistent performances. He did this by working hard and proving himself every day in training.
Grateful to Zidane
After Zidane left Real Madrid, Keylor Navas publicly came out and said that he will always be very grateful to Zinedine Zidane for the faith he had shown in him. With Zidane coming back at the helm of the club, Navas must be very happy for making those comments and putting himself higher up in Zidane’s good books.
Jokes aside, Zidane’s return is likely to be of great benefit for the Costa Rican who had always maintained a very good relationship with the serial Champions League winner. He has often spoken about how Zidane has given him a vote of confidence and how he always trusted in his abilities even when everyone around him was putting pressure on the manager to go with some well-known name in goal.
It is now common knowledge that Zidane had an impact on the move for Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga breaking down. He claimed that he had full confidence in his players, and while respecting Kepa, he once again reaffirmed that he was more than happy with his first choice goalkeeper, Keylor Navas.
Feeling like It’s the First Day of School
Immediately after Zidane was appointed as manager, Courtois was one of those players who felt like they might be on the wrong end of the changes implemented by the ‘new’ manager. Navas was not part of that group.
As soon as the Frenchman got the nod from Real Madrid president, Navas was one of the first to congratulate him and to say how good a manager he was. He even went further and claimed that he felt like when he was putting his new uniform and shoes for the first day of school.
