Kiko Casilla is within sight of Real Madrid. Both Madrid and Espanyol are keen to get a deal done for the 28-year-old goalkeeper (Espanyol have been searching for a replacement and have set their sights on Málaga’s Guillermo Ochoa). Sergio González, coach of the Catalan club, understands the feelings of the player, but as a coach has a different opinion: “As a player it is a unique opportunity, that you cannot say no to. You have to take it with your eyes closed. There are offers that you have to weigh up, but when you have an offer of that level, it’s clear that you want to go there.” The arrival of Casilla will be the fourth signing of the summer for Rafa Benítez after Casemiro, Cheryshev and Lucas Vázquez. The deal is close to being finalised in the coming days for a figure of around €6 million, the asking price of Espanyol for the goalkeeper, whose contract ends in 2018 and has a release clause of €20 million.
Madrid are in a strong position in the negotiations. They own 50 per cent of the rights of the player so for €10 million he would be at Madrid. Espanyol president Joan Collet did not like the first offer from the Bernabéu: “Four million is little value for Casillas”. But Espanyol are in a difficult financial situation. The club has €130 million of debt and they need to pay €10 million to the Tax Office in the coming weeks. Neither the exits of Felipe Mattioni, Sergio García or Diego Colotto (their exits in total will earn the club €4.5 million) nor the sales of Christian Stuani or Lucas Vázquez have allowed Espanyol to pay off what they need to. Although the player would have liked to have left for the €17 million Dani Osvaldo did for Roma in 2011, or the €8 million Pablo Zabaleta left for to Manchester City in 2008, Casilla is aware that this opportunity will only come once and that a deal will hopefully be concluded before the Espanyol squad leaves for Austria on Tuesday. The Catalan club, in addition to its difficult financial situation, is also thinking about taking Marco Asensio on loan.