Keylor Navas says collapsed move to Manchester United has let him fulfil his Real Madrid dream

Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas believes that his collapsed moved to Manchester United as part of the David De Gea transfer saga was an opportunity from "God" to fulfil his dream to succeed at the Santiago Bernabeu. The Costa Rica international said that it was tough at the beginning but eventually helped him to comeback stronger to help his team to win the Champions League.

The 29-year-old keeper moved to Los Blancos in the summer of 2014 to be a back-up for Iker Casillas. Yet, it looked like the La Liga giants have little faith in his worth as they tried to replace him with Dea Gea once Casillas left for Porto.

However Real Madrid and Manchester United agreed terms for Navas to move to Old Trafford on deadline day in a deal that was also expected to see De Gea becoming the Spanish giants' No1. However, the deal collapsed as the paperwork didn't arrive to La Liga headquarters on time and the Costa Rican was consequently force to stay to compete with Kiko Casillas.

The story has had a happy ending for Navas as he was one of the Real Madrid best players during the 2015-2016 campaign which saw Los Blancos conquering their 11<sup>th Champions League crown.

Navas says "everything is lovely" now but admitted that the collapsed moved to United was hard to take at the beginning.

The keeper said to Marca: "It's not good when something like that happens but I'm not someone who is always looking back and I don't bear any grudges. All I saw was that God had given me the chance to fulfil my dream, which was to play another year with Los Blancos and win titles. I was enjoying it all – La Liga games, the Champions League... I'm extremely grateful to everyone who has helped me to be here. The night of 31 August was a bitter pill I had to swallow but it's already forgotten and everything is lovely."

"I have faith in God and I know he would never give me something so bad that I couldn't cope. Many times you are tested in life which you don't understand at first but that you learn from over time and it makes you stronger. It made me push myself harder and to put things right. Everything happens for a reason and I knew something good would happen, I felt it in my heart."

Despite his impressive season some put his future under new doubt at the end of the campaign amid suggestions Real Madrid were ready to renew their attempts to sign De Gea. Yet, it looks that Los Blancos have finally given up on the Manchester United number one as Zinedine Zidane reportedly convinced president Florentino Perez to stick with Navas.

Questioned whether he has had doubts about his future at Real Madrid ahead of the coming seasons, he said: "I have a contract and I have my mind on remaining with the team. I am very happy here, I do not want to leave and I will always do my best here."