3 Sept 2014

Surprise Transfer: BR close to signing 'exceptional' £16m superstar who 'loves LFC'. Talks ongoing

The transfer window may be officially closed, but that doesn't mean the deals are over, and Brendan Rodgers is on the verge of bringing in his eleventh signing of the summer.

According to multiple reports today:

* Brendan Rodgers is close to signing former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

* Transfer talks are ongoing, but Valdes has agreed personal terms with the Reds, and is set to sign a one-year deal.

Liverpool have been linked with 'exceptional' Valdes several times over the last year:

2013: The Mirror, claimed that Brendan Rodgers was planning a summer move for Valdes, and that Barca would listen to offers 'of around £16m'.

Feb 2014: Spanish newspaper Sport claimed that LFC were negotiating with Barca after submitting an offer for Valdes.

Apr 2014: The Guardian claimed: "Liverpool will attempt to shore up their decidedly porous defence by replacing the occasionally flappy Simon Mignolet with Víctor Valdés ".

When asked about his future recently, Valdes heaped praise on the Premier League. He raved:

"It is one of the biggest leagues in the world, with the best clubs in the world and, without doubt, it's a very good option for me"

Valdes - who 'loves Liverpool' (according to Guillem Balague) - is not expected to be fit to play until December, but if the deal happens, tMignolet will have a major threat to his current number one status.

After all, you don't bring in one of the world's most high-profile, decorated goalkeepers to sit on the bench, and I sincerely doubt Valdes plans to spend the next stage of his career playing a vastly-reduced number of games.

Plus, the Spaniard is only 32, which is still young for a goalkeeper, and if he performs well, then Liverpool could conceivably extend the deal beyond a year.

Anfield legend Steve Nicol is not convinced by Valdes, however. Discussing the Spaniard on ESPN recently, the former Reds defender observed:

"The grass isn’t always greener, and wherever he [Valdes] goes, he’ll have a hell of a lot more work to do than he does at Barcelona. I personally don’t think he’s that great of a goalkeeper, so just be careful what you wish for"

I've never been convinced by Mignolet. He is not commanding or vocal enough, and there are several (much-discussed) flaws in his game that continually undermine Liverpool's defensive solidity.

Valdes has amazing experience; he's a real winner, and although he seems to be maligned by some Reds fans, he conceded only 0.8 goals per game in 500 appearances for Barcelona, which is an excellent record. By comparison, Mignolet in his debut season conceded 1.28 goals per game.

A player with Valdes' history - and winning mentality - will be a massive boost for the squad, and to get him as a free agent - when only a year ago he was valued at £16m - is another major transfer coup.

In other news, Liverpool have signed yet another teenage talent 'for the future'. The Liverpool Echo reports:

"Liverpool have wrapped up the signing of Spain U17 midfielder Madger from Villarreal. The youngster will join the club's Academy and will, once international clearance is received, be free to play for the Reds' U21 and U18 sides".

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56 comments:

  1. I'll say it again, NOOOOOOO. Awful keeper who had the luxury of sitting behind the best possession side of modern times. Nicols summary is perfect.

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  2. Valdes is injured. Doubt we will want to add him to the wage bill right now.

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  3. If you or anyone else could answer this curiosity which I have, If LFC signs him, do they pay him today onwards inspite of injury? ( Or from Dec onwards)

    Thanks.

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  4. Not sure but it would be a bit daft to pay him wages which will be on the high side if he cannot be utilised.

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  5. Tonywan give the guy a chance he is a free agent so we cant really go wrong

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  6. I voted no because the question was should Liverpool REPLACE Mignolet at Liverpool. Had the question been should we get him on a free to COMPETE with Mignolet I probably would've voted yes.
    I've always thought Valdes was over-rated and I don't think he'll be good enough to displace Mignolet permanently but he will provide stiff competition for him and a more than adequate replacement if he should pick up an injury. Maybe he's being bought with the champ league games while migs improves his all round game in the less punishing premier league.
    Competition for places is definitely important. Joe Allen was playing his heart out against spurs probably in the knowledge that with Lallana's impending return from injury, his place is most under threat

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  7. That's probably why they're saying the club are waiting on assurances about his fitness before making a formal offer.so presumably they'll wait until he's fit before making it official

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  8. Nevergonnacrackthecode3:51 pm, September 03, 2014

    mignolet has made match winning saves in two/three games


    save vs schniderlin 44th minute
    save vs chadli 42nd minute



    if he carries on this consistently only neur and courtois will start ahead of him

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  9. Nevergonnacrackthecode3:53 pm, September 03, 2014

    i dont want valdes


    he is not better then reina




    if we want another goalkeeper it should be someone really young or really old

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  10. Nevergonnacrackthecode3:55 pm, September 03, 2014

    he is very awful
    i remember when he attacked mourinho we dont want players that
    attack other managers

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  11. Spirit of the Shadows4:02 pm, September 03, 2014

    We have to get him since there aren't any alternatives now. He was good before he got injured and for everyone who thinks he concedes a lot of goals , barca defense is codswallop.

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  12. I hate mourinho as much as the next man, but yeah I remember that. Totally outta line, sore, bitter loser

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  13. Yes please, Valdes is a top class goal keeper. He would be a big boost for the team. Mignolet needs major competition and Valdes will provide that, once he gets his chance he will probably stay as 1st choice.

    Keepers can play until 37+ if they wish too so we may have just solved our keeping issues for a few years.

    PS what does everyone think of United signing Falcao? They have some serious fire power now but I have a feeling they will concede as much as we did, if not more, this season.

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  14. Funny, we are willing to pay high wages and joining bonus (every Bosman gets that) to Valdes, who IMO, falls under same category as Pepe Reina. Why didn't we let Reina stay then? Doesn't make sense. I am sure that whatever little we got for Reina, will go towards Valdes and his agent fees.

    .

    Valdes and Reina both have a very similar career graph.

    1) Played second fiddle to Iker Casillas

    2) They enjoyed success three years back. Pepe Reina received individual recognition while Valdes won trophies.

    3) Later, both were a part of defensive tragedy at their respective clubs.

    .

    The only thing that separates them is that during their prime, Reina was better than Valdes. It will be a weird transfer! IMO. BR had personal issues with him

    .

    Also, if we are willing to wait till December, why not go for better and younger player in January?

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  15. Now I think we should get him.

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  16. How can you use stats regarding how many goals conceded when Valdes has played his football in a 2 team league which has only become a 3 team league in the last 2 seasons?
    On top of that he has been playing for arguably one of the greatest club sides of all time which led to him being rarely tested domestically. If he was such a great keeper he would have helped Barca win the Champions league more.
    He is a decent keeper and will give Mings good competition but he shouldn't replace him unless Mings is performing terribly for us.

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  17. Spirit of the Shadows4:19 pm, September 03, 2014

    Look at barca's performances last year after he got injured, they exited every competition and blew the la liga. He was a key player for the so he is good enough tobbe our no: 2

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  18. How can you say that? Every big team needs a great goalkeeper.

    The whole thing about "if he's such a great keeper he would have helped Barca to more CL" is ridiculous IMO.

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  19. Seeing as how they needed to address other areas of the pitch, I thought it was odd that they signed him. Not complaining though. Glad he didn't sign for Arsenal or Chelski or City (i.e., somewhere he could have actually been a massive threat).

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  20. How much defence did they need against Getafe, Almera and the like?

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  21. Spirit of the Shadows4:25 pm, September 03, 2014

    Anyone else thinks we shouldve put in a cheeky bid for petr cech?

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  22. Fair enough. I just don't rate him and in the Champions league, where his quality is probably best judged, I haven't seen him have an outstanding match winning display unlike other top keepers like Cech, Courtois, neuer, etc

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  23. Very nice signing if we can bring him in. He'd teach Simon a lot, I'm sure, and imagine how curious the other players would feel about him, what a boost it would give them to have basically a legendary player, a player who's seen and done everything in football at least twice, around at the club.

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  24. Sums it up nicely . Migno is a great shop stopper but I have serious concerns about his authority and distribution and why if he has been working at it he hasn't improved in that respect by now.! He defo needs competition so as not to get complacent and we have a lot of games this season . Also CL is a big step up for him . Someone like Valdes would keep him on his toes ( no pun intended ) and he would learn a lot from him...... If Migno's form does dip , similar to Joe Hart , we would have good cover .

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  25. I was thinking about it yesterday. It would have been great if we had signed him but Valdes is not too bad though Romero would have been better.

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  26. It is a weird one but IMO, Valdes is better than Reina. Maybe, Reina was demanding obscene wages to ride the bench but Valdes is on cheaper wages. Hard one to comprehend...

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  27. Decent signing if true but why did we not got for Romero. We can still go for him. Valdes will not be back until December and we can sign Romero in Jan. One to watch the full picture for...

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  28. Pepe was better than him for a short time, Valdes has always been a good keeper. Valdes is a winner

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  29. Spirit of the Shadows4:41 pm, September 03, 2014

    It's sad that a world class keeper is going to be wasted on the bench at chelski

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  30. Spirit of the Shadows4:45 pm, September 03, 2014

    The thing is all of the above mentioned keepers along with mignolet have the same problem. None are commanding gk's. It would have been nice to have a commanding gk. Pepe's distribution was excellent though.

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  31. Wouldn't of been my first choice. Nicol is right, Barca take a lot of pressure off the GK with their possession football, but he has played in the best club team of a generation and in the elite competitions of the game, so his pedigree is hard to question.
    We desperately need someone to compete with Mignolet and as the deadline has passed, are there any other free agents who are a better option? No.
    He won't be there til december though which is a bit worrying. And if we sign him we will be paying his wages from the moment pen hits paper, injured or not.
    So I'm torn whether to just sign him up now or wait til Jan. Bit frustrated that this issue wasn't adressed during the window as it was obvious we needed another GK.

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  32. Only thing for Valdes is he won't get his shot til december, so if Migs is performing well he won't get a look in, would be serious motivation for him to up his game immediately knowing what's coming.
    Falcao is a bit like Mata last year, top quality player but is that what they need. If I were a Utd fan and we were willing to pay those kind of wages I would much have preferred to see it being thrown at Fabregas and Hummells(or someone of equal quality) as they are the type of players they need.
    After they signed Di Maria I thought they were pretty much solid attacking with Rooney/ V.Persie/ Welbeck/ Hernandez/ Di Maria/ Mata. Happy enough they didn't strenghten other areas.

    Side note, first game up he could be facing Rio Ferdinand with that dodgey ACL of his. Nothing like the wrath of a centre back scorned...

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  33. * The best goalkeeper in Barca history, people don't know him enough, and we are really missing him now. We wish them all the best * .........
    Xavi's opinion !

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  34. Exactly. Brad Jones has been there when needed earned his wage for the club when called on, but if you were dropped for him would you really be worried he could keep you out? Probably not. Valdes would be a completely different threat to your position. Motivation.

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  35. Oh and he will have two Spanish defenders in front of him so no communication probs ;-)

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  36. Because ngctc slates him or because Valdes tried to jump Mourinho...or both?

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  37. Migs had a clean sheet Sunday. The stop on Chadli was class, but was only a shot because of a CB miscommunication. Spurs didn't seriously challenge Migs in the 2nd half after Mama and Lovren sorted each other out. We have two very speedy and tough young FBs as a complement who understand attacking is key, but defending is crucial. Might be a bit early to say but as many here have said last season, myself included, a better back 4 means better goal keeping.

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  38. Romero wanted high wages. At least I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere.

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  39. Like Mignolet he's a good shot stopper and has decent reactions, also like Mignolet he's terrible at corners, under high balls and doesn't like to leave the 6 yard box. Maybe slightly better at communicating with his back 4 tho. He's decent competition but not an upgrade in quality. Wud lov Cech but they'd never allow it.

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  40. am i the only won who actually Valdes play (many times), and remember all the times everyone said he should replace cassillas in the Spain first 11 - and i agreed - ?

    He is a huge keeper. Much much better than the current Reina, and if he recovers well from the injury he can take mingolet's place easy.

    Valdes is a terrific signing. Period.

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  41. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:37 pm, September 03, 2014

    joe cole comes to mind

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  42. Nevergonnacrackthecode7:38 pm, September 03, 2014

    not surprised with mino riola his agent

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  43. None of what you've mentioned makes any credible difference. Valdes still has to do his job; plus, Barca are not renowned for having amazing defenders, so it's not as if the back four does an amazing job of protecting Valdes.

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  44. Unlike Mignolet he can pass the ball

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  45. And should have done better for all 3 goals vs Manchester City

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  46. Gerrard, in the past year he's attacked Wenger and probably Mourinho

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  47. Well the manager of our national team has said that he expects his goal keeper to show leadership ..... shouldn't we expect our keeper to do the same ?

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  48. We're talking about a one year deal, I think it's enough to suggest Rodgers doesn't see him as a replacement for Mignolet.

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  49. I agree but an option of Migno doesn't improve

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  50. Mignolet had TWO shaky games last season and he's started this one fairly well. Now we have four competitions to play in, Valdes would be good cover.

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  51. I think Rodgers and Reina fell out

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  52. I posted on here last week that I thought we should make a cheeky bid for him. However if they wouldn't even sell us Bertrand, can't see us getting Cech. He'll prob end up at PSG

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  53. Agree on Mignolet not being vocal enough. Needs to get over the fact he's at a big club, but I reckon he'll come good. Frustrating that the penalty save against Stoke in his first season wasn't enough for him to kick-on and give him that ego and presence, but we'll see how he goes.


    Good to bring Valdes in and shake it up, you never know how good he could be if he returns to full fitness...can't do any harm to have him there and hopefully pass on some wisdom too.

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