PORTUGAL
Iker Casillas to be offered Marseille move by Zubizarreta
Reports are that the Spanish goalkeeper is a target for new sporting director at the Ligue 1 club, Andoni Zubizarreta, but Champions League ambitions could hinder the move.
Iker Casillas could abandon his current side Porto to embark on a new project in Ligue 1. According to reports in the Portuguese press, the Spanish goalkeeper has a two-year offer on the table from Olympique Marseille driven, it appears, by new sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta. And not for the first time.
Champions League need for Iker
Casillas signed for Porto in July 2015 for two years with an option to renew for an extra year after leaving Real Madrid. The key objective for the player is to continue playing in the Champions League, and this could prove to be a spanner in the works for Zubizarreta whose side currently occupy fifth place in the French top flight and 18 points adrift of third placed Nice, with just eight games to go. Uefa only allow for a maximum of three Champions League places for Ligue 1.
Porto guarantees entry into Europe
If the Madrid legend maintains his desire to add more Champions League games to his career totals then he is much more likely to stay in Portugal. Porto sit second in the Primeira Liga with only a point separating them from Benfica on top but, more significantly, nine points ahead of Sporting in third, and 17 ahead of the side in fourth, Braga. As in France, the first two teams at the end of the season go into the group stage with the third placed club joining others in a qualifying round. It wasn't that long ago that Iker expressed his hopes to stay with his current club so Marseille may have a job on their hands prying him away.
