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Arsenal To Raid Real Madrid In January?

By on October 18, 2013

Could Arsenal be set to raid Real Madrid once again in January? Well long-term target Iker Casillas has admitted he will look for a move this winter if he doesn’t regain the first team gloves over the coming weeks.

Casillas has been with Madrid his entire career and has gone on to make over 500 appearances for the club since making his debut in 1999.

Until recently, he was their captain and was widely expected to see out the rest of his career at the Bernabeu. In fact, it was only just over a year ago that president Florentino Perez stated Casillas had a contract for life at Madrid.

His fortunes changed when he picked up an untimely hand injury about 11 months ago which forced then boss Jose Mourinho to sign Diego Lopez in the 2013 January window. Lopez immediately impressed and has held the No.1 spot ever since, with Casillas having to sit and watch on from the sidelines.

However, with the World Cup on the horizon it seems the 32-year-old is growing impatient and has told the BBC that he will look for a move if he hasn’t regained the No.1 shirt by January.

“If the situation doesn’t change within three months, I’d say that I’ll be looking to leave,” Casillas said.

“I have been here since I was a small boy but the day will come when maybe a decision will have to be made.”

We were strongly linked with the Spaniard in the summer and he also admitted that he came close to asking for a move before deciding to stay to see if he could regain his place. He added:

“In September I wanted to leave and I was going to tell the president that I wanted to go, but I decided to be a part of this squad and this club for a lot longer.”

He’s still considered as Spain’s No.1 and started against Georgia in midweek, but it will be difficult for Vicente del Bosque to select him at a World Cup if he’s barely played for his club in over a year.

If he does come on the market in January, I’m sure there will be a long line of interested parties. Whether at that point Wenger will be interested remains to be seen though.  Szczesny has enjoyed an excellent start to the season and if he continues with this form into the New Year, I don’t see the boss making a move for any goalkeeper.

We brought in Viviano in the summer and with Fabianski also on the books, we’re pretty well stocked between the sticks, so unless we see a dip in form or a serious injury over the next few weeks, I’m not convinced we’d even be after Casillas if he does want out of Madrid.

Would you like to see us go for Casillas in January? Or is Szczesny good enough?