The loyalty shown by Vicente del Bosque to Iker Casillas in recent years has been astonishing. As it became abundantly clear to anyone who watches football that David De Gea was the better goalkeeper, Del Bosque kept faith with Casillas and the Manchester United goalkeeper had to wait for his international career to really take off.
Whislt De Gea was being talked about as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Casillas was transferred to FC Porto by Real Madrid. The reason Madrid did that was partly because they thought De Gea would be arriving from Manchester United.
De Gea was the best Spanish goalkeeper, and Madrid wanted him. Despite all of that, Del Bosque continued with Casillas, throwing scraps to De Gea and refusing to make the permanent change.
For the start of Euro 2016, there was still some doubt as to which goalkeeper would get the nod. It was a ridiculous situation, and further doubt was placed on Del Bosque’s choice when Casillas started a warm-up game against South Korea.
When the tournament did finally start, Manchester United’s De Gea got the position, and it seems Casillas didn’t take it very well at all.
El Confidencial quote Del Bosque as saying: “With his team-mates he’s been perfect, with the coaching staff it is so so.
“He feels bad with me, but also with Toni and Minano (assistant coach and trainer).
“The anger of Casillas was only with us, I say this with all sincerity, with his colleagues was perfect… Sure we’ll fix it in the future, there can be no grudges.
“Well, maybe we were wrong with him. I do not know.”
The Spain manager said he sent a text message to every player after Euro 2016, apart from Casillas. Del Bosque went on to praise Casillas and said he has “great appreciation” for the player, adding that he’s known him since the goalkeeper was just nine years of age.
None of this paints Casillas in a good light, his behaviour towards Del Bosque after the loyalty shown is surprising to say the least.
