Premier League – Van Gaal offers Victor Valdes Manchester United opportunity

Manchester United have offered Victor Valdes the opportunity to join up with the club and work his way back to fitness.

The goalkeeper has been out of action since March with an anterior cruciate ligament injury and is currently without a club following the expiry of his Barcelona contract in June.

A club statement read: “Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has offered the 32-year-old former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes a chance to complete his rehabilitation from a knee injury and to work his way back to fitness with the club.

“Valdes, a free agent, will have his recovery supervised by the United medical staff before training with the first team, as he bids to regain full fitness.”

Goal understands there is little likelihood of Valdes earning a contractual arrangement at United at present, with David de Gea the undisputed No.1 choice and far too few matches forthcoming to justify signing another top-class goalkeeper.

Van Gaal and Valdes remain close after the Dutchman’s time at Barcelona in the early part of the last decade, where he handed the Spain international his debut for the Catalans.

Real Madrid have been linked with interest in United’s first-choice goalkeeper De Gea, but the player insisted earlier on Thursday that he has no intention of leaving the 13-time Premier League champions.

Monaco were long tipped as Valdes’s next club, with injury preventing a summer switch before Liverpool began talks to bring him to Anfield and compete with under-fire Simon Mignolet.

However, Valdes’s wage demands have seen a potential move stall and Fiorentina shot-stopper Neto edge up Brendan Rodgers’s list of new candidates.

Goal