Tractor closing in on ex-Espanyol keeper Pacheco: Report
Persian Gulf Pro League club Tractor is in advanced talks to sign former Espanyol Spanish goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco as a free agent, IRNA reported on Saturday.
The Iranian top-flight champion is desperately looking for a new signing between the posts after Iranian international goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand was handed a four-month ban in August by the Iranian Football Federation’s Appeal Committee due to a year-long contract dispute with his former club Persepolis.
Adib Zarei, 22, has served as Tractor’s number one in the first three games of the new campaign.
Tractor came from behind to beat Esteghlal 2-1 and win the Iranian Super Cup trophy in August, but got off to a losing start to its league title defense, suffering a 1-0 home defeat against the Tehran Blues, and then shared the spoils with Mes Rafsanjan in a goalless away game before the international break.
Pacheco, 33, has been without the team since parting ways La Liga club Espanyol in July.
Pacheco, who joined the Catalan team midway through the 2022/23 season, registered 13 clean sheets – conceding 68 goals – in 46 appearances for the club across all competition.
Having joined Real Madrid as a 14-year-old youth keeper in 2006, Pacheco was a member of the Los Blancos until 2015, though his first-team contribution was limited to only a couple of Copa del Rey appearances.
Pacheco left Real Madrid for Deportivo Alavés, where he kept 76 clean sheets in 253 games across six seasons, before joining Almería on a four-year contract in August 2022. However, he parted ways with the club the following January after serving as the second-choice keeper during the first half of the campaign.