Manchester United are convinced to sign former Barcelona goal keeper Victor Valdes in the January transfer window, once he recovers fully from the knee injury.
Valdes had been training with Manchester United first team at the Carrington ground, as he looked to return back to his full fitness. Catalan newspaper Sport claim that Louis van Gaal, the man who gave him debut at the Camp Nou, will sign him for free when the transfer window reopens.
The newspaper claim that Valdes is on his final stages of recovery and would be ready to take the pitch around mid-January. Van Gaal wants to add more competition in the side, although Valdes will serve mainly as a deputy to first choice goal keeper David de Gea, who has been outstanding this season for the Red Devils.
De Gea has been instrumental in United’s recent run of good forms, where they managed six straight wins, while his heroic performances against Liverpool has been highly praised by the Spanish press. It will be difficult for Valdes to replace De Gea, though in all probability Van Gaal will be looking to shuffle the two keepers efficiently.
[polldaddy poll=8527590]The former Atletico Madrid goal keeper has a contract till 2016 and has been a reported target of Spanish giants Real Madrid. At this moment, there hasn’t been any official move from either of the parties about settling on a new deal, but United are confident that De Gea will commit his future at Old Trafford.
Last month, De Gea hinted that Manchester United had already signed Valdes, and it is only a matter of time to announce it officially.
“Yes, my contract runs out in 2016. But they didn’t sign him for that”, he told AS TV asrelayed by ESPN.
“Victor had a difficult injury, he had a bad time and the boss knows him well and has given him the opportunity to recover there.
“Yes, Victor is training over in Manchester — he’s still not 100 percent after his injury. When he is fully fit he will start to train with us. He’s still not training in goal with us. From time to time he comes out with the goalkeeping coach, but very little still.
“Van Gaal knows him well because he gave Victor his debut at Barca and has a special affection for him and, whenever possible, we have to help where we can.
“Football is cruel at times, it’s difficult. When things go well you’re very good and when they go badly… well, it’s awful.”
It is quite clear that Valdes is not seen as a long term replacement of De Gea, rather Van Gaal wants to add more competition to the side, by having two world class goal keepers. United are currently third in the Premier League table, eight points behind Chelsea; the Red Devils are not only favourite for the top four spot but skipper Wayne Rooney believes they can challenge for the title as well.
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