Espanyol goalkeeper Kiko Casilla is set sign for Spanish giants Real Madrid, according to AS.
The 28 year old goalkeeper’s transfer fee is said to be around €6 million and both the clubs are keen to make the deal official.
Espanyol have already identified Malaga’s Mexican goalkeeper Gulliermo Ochoa as Kiko’s replacement.
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 deal is set to be 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.
Real Madrid are in a strong position in the negotiations as 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 Casilla”.
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.
Real Madrid wanted Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea to replace Iker Casillas who moved to FC Porto but the stubbornness of the Old Trafford club made Real Madrid look for other options