More invectives are being poured on Real Madrid for the club’s alleged ill-treatment of its veteran (ex)player, Iker Casillas who just made a switch to Porto FC. The Spaniard’s agent Santos Marquez has claimed that Casillas’s exit was planned without his knowledge.
Albeit Madrid affirmed that the decorated goalkeeper opted to leave the Bernabeu, Marquez insisted that he was pushed out of the club and that was evident in the farewell ceremony hastily organized for the skipper who had spent 25 years at the club. Excerpts from his recent interview.
“His exit had been agreed behind his back. Casillas never decided to jump ship and leave Madrid. He was pushed. Casillas did not ask to leave, he has been annoyed and everything about his exit had been agreed behind his back. He has to go, so he accepts that, but at no point did Casillas want to leave.
“One factor was the whistles he received from the Bernabeu, but another is the support from the club. He has never felt defended. Nobody – including Florentino – from the club said ‘I will sit with Iker Casillas and I will defend him to the death’. That never happened.
“Benitez has played hide-and-seek, he let me down. We were hoping to talk to the coach. It has not been fair to Iker, it hasn’t been the exit he deserves – it’s been a disaster.”