MADRID: Keylor Navas is recovering well from recent foot surgery and is targeting a return for Real Madrid’s pre-season programme, the Costa Rican goalkeeper said on Friday.
Navas went under the knife on June 9 for a nagging left-foot problem that saw him play through the pain in Madrid’s Champions League winning campaign, but he hopes to be fit for July 15, when Real start the coming campaign.
“I will only come back when I’m 100 percent fit but the aim is to be there on the first day of pre-season with the boys,” Navas told Friday’s edition of sports daily Marca.
“Things are going well and I’m getting better,” said the 29-year-old who admitted he played with pain-killing injections ‘many times’ last season.
“It was a tough year and I had to get used to the pain, which is far from ideal. So once the season was over we tackled the problem at the root.”
Despite his foot problem Navas had a good season with Real after watching from the sidelines as his club tried but failed to buy David de Gea from Manchester United during the last close season.
Coach Zinedine Zidane is on record as saying he trusts Navas to continue in the Madrid number one spot.
“I’m very happy here in Madrid. I don’t want to leave and I’ll always give my all for Real,” Navas said.
