In signing with Real Madrid at a price of €10M ($13.4M), Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas has become the second-most expensive signing in the history of Costa Rican football, behind only the €12M sum EPL side Fulham paid for Bryan Ruiz in '11, according to AS. Real's signing of Navas represents the fourth-most expensive signing of a Central American. Costa Rica President Luis Guillermo Solís said, "The signing of Keylor Navas by Real Madrid is recognition of his quality and professionalism. It confirms his status as one of the best goalies in the world" (AS, 8/3). The EFE reported Costa Rican media outlets also highlighted the signing. La Nación's headline read, "Keylor Navas: historic signing in Costa Rican football." Canal 7's website's headline read, "Galác-tico" -- "a play on words between 'Tico,' as Costa Ricans are known, and 'Galácticos,' which is how Real Madrid's stars have come to be known" (EFE, 8/3). In Madrid, Álvaro Murillo wrote that when Costa Rican first division club Saprissa acquired Navas 11 years ago from his neighborhood club, Pedregoso, it did so fee for a fee of $2,000. The goalkeeper was 16 at the time. At a sporting goods store in Costa Rica, that fee "would currently be enough to purchase 100 footballs." It was "a success at the time for the small club, but a lawyer later said that Pedregoso should have charged at least $50,000" (EL PAIS, 8/4).
