Casillas plotting to oust David de Gea from Spain: Mourinho
Controversy's favorite child, Jose Mourinho, brewed up a fresh storm when he blamed former Spain captain Iker Casillas for plotting a campaign to oust David de Gea from the national squad. Reportedly, David de Gea was at the receiving end of a lot of flak, for his poor goal-keeping in the match against Croatia. Spain lost the clash 2-3. Further details follow.
What were Mourinho's comments about Casillas?
After Spain lost to Croatia, David de Gea was replaced by Chelsea's Kepa Arrizabalaga as the custodian of the national team for their match against Bosnia on Sunday. Mourinho believes that Iker used his connections in the media and the football authorities to portray David de Gea in bad light and remove him from the national team.
Casillas and Mourinho have bad blood between them
"He was brought in to compete with Barcelona and brought moments of great tension and that Madridismo that I mentioned that I don't like came out, there was a limit that he went to with me that I didn't want to go to", said Casillas regarding the Portuguese manager recently. Mourinho was also behind Casillas leaving Real Madrid unceremoniously and moving to Porto.
Casillas did confront him, claims Mourinho
Casillas recently said he thinks he should have confronted Mourinho during the time the problems arose at Real Madrid, and regrets not doing so. However, Mourinho has refuted this statement entirely, saying, "When he says that he never confronted me that is not true. He did confront me and did so in the manner that he does better than anyone -- secretly."
David de Gea's performance has deteriorated since the World Cup
David de Gea has not been his absolute best since the 2018 World Cup, even conceding easy goals in the Spain vs Portugal group stage match. His form for United has also dipped. There is hardly any Premier League match where he has managed to keep a clean sheet. Kepa, however, is on an unbeaten streak with Chelsea after moving from Athletic Bilbao.
