Real Madrid legend Iker Casillas is braced to make an emotional return to his boyhood club and work closely alongside club president Florentino Perez.
The exact details of the 39-year-old’s role have not yet been confirmed, but Marca report that the club’s former goalkeeper will work in an advisory capacity in a position similar to the one Zinedine Zidane held before he took up a coaching role at the club.
Casillas spent 16 trophy-laden years at the Bernabeu, winning five La Liga titles and the Champions League on three different occasions. He also won two European Championships and the 2010 World Cup with the Spanish national team and was the most capped player in La Roja’s history, before his former club team-mate Sergio Ramos moved passed him last year.
After a turbulent end to his Real career, Casillas moved to Porto and spent five years at the Portuguese club but confirmed his retirement back in February, nine months after he suffered a heart attack during a training session.
Casillas had previously indicated his desire to run for the presidency of the Spanish Football Association but now appears destined to return to the club at which he cemented his reputation as one of the modern goalkeeping greats.
Real, meanwhile, celebrated winning back the La Liga title from Barcelona last night following victory over Villarreal. Zidane’s side have been in imperious form since the resumption of the Spanish domestic campaign and still harbour hopes of regaining the Champions League, although they must overturn a first leg deficit against Manchester City next month in order to progress to the quarter finals.
For now, however, Real will enjoy basking in their status of kings of Spain again with Zidane hailing this title-winning campaign as his finest managerial achievement to date.