After joining Pumas UNAM to be closer to his family and move on from a challenging spell in Argentina, the 38-year-old Costa Rican legend, who starred for Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, has quickly become a key figure in Liga MX.
During a recent YouTube appearance with fellow Costa Rican icon Hugo Sanchez, Navas shared this lesser-known story from his early footballing days.
When Sanchez asked what his career might have looked like as an attacker, he admitted with a smile that scoring goals once felt just as natural to him as stopping them, surprising fans with this glimpse into his childhood ambitions.
“When I was a kid, I always played as a goalkeeper," Navas said.
"We played the match on Saturdays at the football school, but throughout the entire week I was a striker."
He explained that between the ages of eight and 14, he would split matches between goal and attack.
“And when I played as a striker, I took advantage of certain situations. I always thought, ‘When you're standing there and the forward is so close, if he doesn’t shoot, that’s a great chance, because if he does shoot, it would be very hard to stop it.’”