Kiko Casilla could secure a move to Real Madrid within the next few hours. Diario AS understands that the club has reached an agreement with the goalkeeper and now negotiations are centred on closing the operation with Espanyol.
Madrid and Casilla are believed to have agreed on a fee of around six million euros which would suit the Catalan club; the player’s buy-out fee is set at 20 million euros but Madrid hold 50 per cent of his formation rights (Casilla started out in Madrid youth academy and remained on the books until 2007), therefore, they could legally buy the player for 10 million without having to barter with Espanyol.
Espanyol meanwhile are in need of revenue to meet a payment owed to the Spanish tax agencies and is due in the forthcoming weeks.
Casilla, who has been with the Espanyol squad at their summer training camp in Vielha since Wednesday, appeared relaxed on Friday but reticent about making declarations. The keeper has always maintained that if he were ever to leave Espanyol, he would hope to leave a sizeable amount of money in the club’s coffers and a return to Real Madrid would allow him to keep his promise. It’s one of the reasons why he renewed with the Catalans, extending his contract to 2018 when he had a offers from one Premier League club and two in the Spanish League; he would otherwise have been able to leave on a free transfer this summer.