{"id":80672,"date":"2015-01-09T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-01-09T06:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=80672"},"modified":"2015-01-08T20:32:02","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T20:32:02","slug":"man-utd-sign-former-barcelona-goalkeeper-valdes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=80672","title":{"rendered":"Man Utd sign former Barcelona goalkeeper Valdes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes has signed for Manchester United as “the number two goalkeeper”, said manager Louis van Gaal.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old Spain international has penned an 18-month deal, with the option of another year.<\/p>\n

Valdes had been training with United as he recovered from a serious knee injury after his Barca contract expired.<\/p>\n

“I can already see this is a very special club,” said Valdes, who will deputise for David De Gea.<\/p>\n

“I worked with Louis van Gaal during my time at Barcelona and to have the opportunity to work with him here at Manchester United is a dream come true.”<\/p>\n

Van Gaal said that Valdes had been “very impressive” during training.<\/p>\n

“He joins the club as the number two goalkeeper and is a great addition to the first team,” the Dutchman added.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n
Valdes’s honours at Barcelona<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
La Liga:<\/strong> 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013. Copa del Rey:<\/strong> 2009, 2012. Champions League:<\/strong> 2006, 2009, 2011. World Club Cup:<\/strong> 2009, 2011.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Valdes’s arrival has caused some to question about the future of 24-year-old first-choice goalkeeper De Gea, who was the club’s player of the year last season.<\/p>\n

His contract is due to expire in 2016, although senior United sources have said they were relaxed about him signing an extension to that deal.<\/p>\n

However, Valdes’ arrival could lead to reserve keeper Anders Lindegaard leaving Old Trafford.<\/p>\n

The Denmark international, 30, arrived in a \u00a33.5m deal in January 2011 but has made only 19 Premier League appearances.<\/p>\n

United’s two other goalkeeping options are 21-year-old Sam Johnstone, who is on loan at Doncaster, and 24-year-old Ben Amos, who was criticised by Van Gaal for letting in Miralem Pjanic’s 60-yard lob against Roma in pre-season.<\/p>\n

Before last season started, Valdes confirmed he would leave Barcelona at the end of that campaign.<\/p>\n

However, he tore an anterior cruciate ligament in March and missed the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Victor<\/p>\n

Valdes suffered a serious knee injury in Barcelona’s 3-0 home La Liga win against Celta Vigo in March<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\"Victor<\/p>\n

Valdes helped Barcelona beat Manchester United in the 2011 Champions League final at Wembley<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC Sport<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes has signed for Manchester United as “the number two goalkeeper”, said manager Louis van Gaal. The 32-year-old Spain international has penned an 18-month deal, with the option of another year. Valdes had been training with United as he recovered from a serious knee injury after his Barca contract expired. “I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":80673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[29,3],"class_list":["post-80672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-mahamudu-bawumia","tag-ghana-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}