Iker Casillas will be given Real Madrid send-off after Florentino Perez begged him to say goodbye to Bernabeu

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Iker Casillas is leaving Real Madrid to join Porto after 25 years at the club
The Spain goalkeeper broke down in tears at a farewell press conference
The club have been criticised over the way they handled his departure
Casillas is set to be given a grand farewell at the Bernabeu on Monday
President Florentino Perez begged him to hold a formal goodbye

Published: 03:24 EST, 13 July 2015 | Updated: 06:56 EST, 13 July 2015

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Real Madrid will present a Spain international goalkeeper to their supporters in the Santiago Bernabeu on Monday but it will not be David de Gea whose move to the club continues to stall.

Instead it will be Iker Casillas who has agreed to be given a stadium send-off by the club after receiving a phone call from club president Florentino Perez.

Casillas was angry at the manner of his exit after 25 years at the club and on Sunday he sat alone in a tearful press conference in which he could barely read his prepared statement such was the emotion felt after 16 seasons in the first team.

Iker Casillas had to fight back the tears as he said goodbye to Real Madrid ahead of his move to Porto

A tearful Casillas struggled to read a statement during the press conference on Sunday morning

The 34-year-old thanked Madrid fans for their support and asked them to remember him as a 'good person'

But the heartless adios was condemned far and wide with French sports paper L’ Equipe calling Madrid a ‘club without class’.

President Perez is understood to have personally begged Casillas to give in to the offer of a formal send-off in the Santiago Bernabeu and the 34-year-old keeper has agreed to say goodbye to supporters before flying to Portugal to be formally presented as Porto’s new top earner.

If Casillas goes through with his promise to stand alongside Perez in the presidential box it will go some way to repairing the image damage done by his last two years at the club. Even his mother Mari Carmen has gone public in the last 24 hours over the way her son has been mistreated.

Once the send-off is complete, Perez is desperate to move on from the Casillas era but De Gea’s protracted move to the Spanish capital still seems some way from being completed with the player still set to go on tour with with Manchester United this week. United are, in turn, holding out for Sergio Ramos who is on tour with Real Madrid.

Ramos was due to touch down on Australian soil at 10am Monday morning UK time – his intention is still to join United, just as De Gea’s is to join Madrid with super agent Jorge Mendes representing the goalkeeper and also apparently acting as a bridge between United and Real for Ramos.

Iker Casillas breaks down in tears in emotional farewell

Casillas has spent 25 years with the Spanish giants, winning 18 major trophies along the way

Pessimists among Real Madrid supporters are beginning to contemplate the nightmare scenario of Casillas having left and De Gea not signing this summer. That would leave the club relying on Keylor Navas and Kiko Casilla who they hope to sign from Espanyol.

The problem is that Espanyol president Joan Collet has rejected Real’s first offer of €4million (£2.8m) for Casilla who was at Real as a youth player, and Navas is still out injured with a partially-ruptured achilles that will keep him out of the start of the season.

Real Madrid took to Twitter to post this graphic to thank Casillas for his service to the club

Real Madrid want Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea to replace the long-serving Casillas

The injury to Navas is another setback for the Costa Rica keeper who has endured a nightmare year after a brilliant 2014 World Cup ended with him signing for Real Madrid.

The 28-year-old Valencia target could yet leave the club before the window closes if Real sign both De Gea and Casilla because he is unhappy at the prospect of becoming De Gea’s No 2 after a season of deputising for Casillas.