Keylor Navas absent in PSG’s first pre-season match in Japan
The Costa Rica international was not available for the Ligue 1 team’s first pre-season game in Japan against Kawasaki but Christophe Galtier explained why.
Keylor Navas is aware that he needs to leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer in search of more minutes because Gianluigi Donnarumma is expected to be the starting goalkeeper under newly appointed manager Christophe Galtier. PSG started their pre-season in Japan with a 2-1 victory over Kawasaki and the Costa Rica international was absent from the game.
“As for Keylor Navas, it’s a matter of playing time, he will play a large part of the second game against the Urawa Reds. These absences will at least have had the merit of leaving playing time for young Vitinha and Zaire-Emery to get noticed,” said Galtier in the post-game press conference.
Other players that missed the beginning of the pre-season tour were Marco Verratti and Leandro Paredes. Galtier explained why they didn’t see minutes against Kawasaki: “Regarding Leandro Paredes, yesterday, at the end of the session, he felt a little muscle discomfort. But nothing very serious. We think we can recover him by the end of the tour. Marco Verratti resumed with us with a pain in his foot. We decided not to make him participate in this match. He only had five collective sessions in his legs. He is scheduled to play in the next game.”
Navas in search of a new team
The 35-year-old helped Costa Rica secure the last spot in the 2022 FIFA World Cup last month and now he is in search of more minutes to be in top form for the tournament. Navas has been linked to Juventus, Benfica, Napoli and Sevilla during the summer transfer window but no deal has been reached with PSG yet.