There is simply no questioning the career that Keylor Navas has enjoyed but his longer term future at Paris Saint Germain was thrown into question in the summer when the French giants signed Gigi Donnarumma.
Here we look at what the future holds for Navas and assess whether he’ll still be in Paris come this time next year.
Navas’ journey so far
As we touched on in our opening paragraph, you cannot dispute the glittering career that Keylor Navas has enjoyed to date. He worked his way through the youth ranks at Costa Rican club Saprissa winning several honours in the first team including the being part of the squad that won the 2005 CONCACAF Champions’ Cup; albeit he wasn’t the first choice at the time.
A move to Spain followed with Albacete signing him before a move to Levante. Fast forward through those four years and he’d established himself as a top-drawer keeper in La Liga to the point where Real Madrid came calling. With the Los Blancos, Navas saw his reputation explode as he was the first-choice goalkeeper during three Champions League wins with the last win, in 2018, seeing him named the tournaments best goalkeeper.
Navas would spend one more season with Real before joining PSG for a new chapter. Whilst many people would say that domestic success is the bare minimum for PSG, Navas hasn’t disappointed in the French capital. He’s added a further four major honours to his trophy haul as well as the individual accolade of being named Ligue 1 keeper of the year.
Why could it be goodbye?
We’ve touched on one factor that is driving rumours about Navas’ potential exit already; that’s the arrival of Donnarumma. Donnarumma is widely perceived to be amongst the very best – if not the best – keepers in the world right now. At just 22-years-old, he carries a damn sight more long term value for PSG than Navas who is 12 years his senior.
Another big factor on why Navas could wave goodbye to Paris is because he might fancy a new challenge; particularly if he is sharing the goalkeeping duties or, even worse, if he was to lose his place as number one; his case won’t be helped by blunders like that which happened at the weekend against Lens either.
Recently taken over moneybags, Newcastle United, are reported to have shown an interest in Navas. It’s a deal that seems unlikely with the move currently subject to very long odds but if he spends the next six or seven weeks sat on the bench then whose to say a last minute January loan move might not appeal with a view to something more permanent. That sort of move could become a lot more likely if uncertainty around Mauricio Pochettino continues to grow.
What could see Navas stay?
We’ve just touched on Poch’s future and it could be pivotal to what Navas does. It’s understood that the former Tottenham manager was happy with Navas as his number one keeper and the signing of Donnarumma was not something he wanted. If Pochettino stays put then Navas may well see the end of his career being in Paris.
Weirdly though, there is also the possibility that Poch’s exit could see Navas stay too; that would all depend on who the new man is, of course. Zinedine Zidane has been linked for a long time. He and Navas enjoyed huge success together at Real Madrid making a reunion quite appealing.
If we’re being completely honest though, we think this will be Navas’ last season with PSG. The next chapter could be anything. Maybe we will see him closer to home, in the MLS, earning a salary that would rival the ones from the highest paid NFL players.
Or will he stay in Europe, trying to prove wrong PSG and Real Madrid who seemed to never have fully trusted the Costa Rican legend? We know most clubs in Europe would definitely be happy to have such a reliable keeper between the posts.
