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REAL MADRID

Real Madrid: Reina sounded out as Keylor Navas replacement

Real Madrid are weighing up a move for AC Milan's Pepe Reina, 36, if Keylor Navas goes to PSG as part of a deal to take Neymar to the Bernabéu.

Update:
Pepe Reina, en un partido con el Milán.
AFP

Real Madrid have sounded out Pepe Reina as a replacement for Keylor Navas if the Costa Rican is finally used as a makeweight in a deal to take Paris Saint-Germain's Neymar to the Santiago Bernabéu.

It is felt that Reina, 36, ideally fits the profile Madrid are looking for: a veteran keeper who can act as interim understudy to Thibaut Courtois until Ukrainian 20-year-old Andriy Lunin returns from his season-long loan at Real Valladolid.

Reina is currently second choice to Gianluigi Donnarumma at Serie A club AC Milan, who Madrid are confident will not be resistant to selling the Spaniard. Given his receptiveness to an offer from Los Blancos, meanwhile, negotiations with the player himself would also be expected to be problem-free.

Real Madrid attracted by Reina track record, personality

Real Madrid are not only attracted by Reina's experience at major clubs such as Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Napoli and Milan, but also the charismatic personality of a player who has demonstrated his ability to help create a positive dressing-room atmosphere even when limited to a substitute's brief.

A youth product of Madrid's arch rivals Barcelona, he was a popular figure in the Spain squad that won the World Cup in 2010 and the European Championship in 2008 and 2012, and would be well received by the club's Spanish internationals.

Subasic, Mirante and Stekelenburg also in Real frame

However, Reina is not the only candidate being looked at by Madrid. Also on the Spanish-capital club's radar are Monaco's Danijel Subasic, 34; Roma's Antonio Mirante, 36; and Everton's Maarten Stekelenburg, 36.