Some people said that a good goalkeeper was worth half a team.
That was both true and untrue.
Defense had always relied on a system. Relying on the goalkeeper alone had never been a guarantee, but it was also true that the goalkeeper's position could often turn the tide at crucial moments and save a team from danger.
Casillas had done plenty of that throughout his career, but he really was getting old now.
There were not many truly elite goalkeepers in European Football these days, and there were even fewer among the younger generation.
Bayern Munich's Neuer was universally recognized as the best goalkeeper in the world, but getting him was practically impossible.
Real Madrid and Barcelona undoubtedly stood at the very top of the pyramid that was European professional football. Manchester United and Bayern might have been a little lower than Real Madrid and Barcelona, but they were not short of money. Both clubs were among the most commercially successful in the world. With money no object, poaching their players was as difficult as reaching the heavens.
Take De Gea's transfer, for example. Real Madrid had spent two years working on it, but now that Manchester United had made its position clear and Van Gaal had issued a harsh warning, De Gea had fallen silent as a frightened cicada, not daring to say another word. Real Madrid's Technical Director had personally gone to Manchester to negotiate, only to be turned away. If they refused to talk, they refused to talk. No amount of money would help.
This was a huge blow to Real Madrid, because all of the club's summer recruitment plans had originally been built around De Gea. According to the management's original calculations, Manchester United had performed poorly, would miss out on European competition in the