Keylor Navas is a Costa Rican footballer born on 15 December 1986. He currently works for the Spanish football giants Real Madrid and the Costa Rican national team.
Keylor Navas Biography (Age)
Navas began his professional football career in Saprissa, where he made his professional debut on 6 November 2005. He remained the club’s first-choice goalkeeper for the last two seasons, winning six national championships and the 2005 CONCACAF Champion’s Cup, before moving to Spain in July 2010, where he signed with a team from the Spanish Segundo Division called Albacete.
Keylor Navas was a regular player with the Spanish club, playing 36 out of 42 possible appearances in his first season alone. Despite his best efforts, this did not prevent his team from being knocked out of the league at the bottom of the standings. He eventually moved to La Liga and joined the Spanish club Levante UD, where he was officially loaned out for a year in the 2011/2012 season. On 13 May 2012, Navas made his debut with the club in the final round of the league season, playing Athletic Bilbao in a comfortable 3-0 win that secured the Spanish club their first-ever UEFA Europa League qualifying campaign.
His exploits at Levante led to the Valencian club signing a three-year contract with Navas in July of the same year, replacing Spanish goalkeeper Gustavo Munua. Despite his initial appointment as a substitute goalkeeper, Navas quickly established himself as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper for the 2013-2014 season and was nominated as the league’s best goalkeeper alongside Thibaut Courtois of Atletico Madrid and Willy Caballero of Malaga CF. Navas continued to claim the award and made Spanish football history in March 2014 when he became the first goalkeeper to be voted Player of the Month in the League.
ALSO READ: Dan Blocker Bio, Cause of Death, Wife, Son, Net Worth, Height, Weight
Following his exploits at the 2014 World Cup with his native Costa Rica, Real Madrid used the $12 million release clause in his contract to sign the Costa Rican on 3 August 2014. This was a 6-year contract. He was initially signed as a replacement for club legend Iker Casillas and was forced to sit on the bench for his first compulsory match in Cardiff against his Spanish club Sevilla.
He made his club debut on 23 September against Elche. It was only when Real Madrid goalkeeper of many years’ standing Iker Casillas stepped down in the 2015-2016 La Liga season that Navas was named the team’s undisputed number one. He was also part of the famously failed swap deal between Man Utd and Real Madrid, in which Real agreed to switch Navas to United in exchange for Spanish number one David De Gea.
The switch finally failed when both clubs failed to meet the Spanish deadline. In his first season as No 1, Navas made history by becoming the first Madrid goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in 8 of his first Champions League appearances. He recently became part of Real Madrid’s most successful team when the Spanish giants became the first team in 27 years to retain their European crown in the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 seasons.
Madrid won both the La Liga and the Champions League in the 2016/2017 season and continued their quest for an unprecedented third successive Champions League win by qualifying for the 2017/2018 UEFA Champions League final in Kiev, with Navas playing a key role in achieving this achievement.
Keylor Navas Wife, Son
Keylor Navas married his hot Latina wife Andrea Salas on Christmas day – December 25th, 2009. She is a successful model and was crowned Miss Hawaiian Tropic in 2006. She has appeared in various magazines, the most popular one being SoHo magazine. Andrea is a well-known Christian, as is her husband Navas. It was said that she turned her back on modeling in search of something bigger, and in search of happiness she chose spirituality in others and joined a Christian group where she met Navas. The couple welcomed their first child and their son Mateo, who was born in March 2014.
ALSO READ: Kate Moss Daughter, Height, Weight, Body, Relationship With Johnny Depp
Height
The position of Navas as goalkeeper requires height as an edge. Although he stands at a height of 1.85 m, which is about 1.85 m, he is still considered short for an A-list goalkeeper. Nevertheless, he represents a major obstacle that must be overcome at this height against footballers of opposing teams.
Facts About Keylor Navas
- Navas made the decisive save against Greece, securing Costa Rica a place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time in the country’s history.
- In his early days at the Deportivo Saprissa Youth Academy, Keylor Navas played as a striker, which explains his great footballing skills as a goalkeeper.
- Had the much-publicized failed transfer of David De Gea to Madrid taken place, Navas would now be a Manchester United player.
