It’s astonishing to think that Manchester United, in the last 12 months, have signed Ángel Di María, Juan Mata, Radamel Falcao and now Victor Valdes. Players that seemed unobtainable under the Ferguson era. Of course the truth is that this caliber of player has always been attracted to a club as big as Manchester United but under the Ferguson and Gill regime, big money signings tended to be along the lines of an emerging star, not the ready made one. Of course you can argue all day what is the correct approach to take but what you simply cannot argue is that a player with the pedigree and honors list that Victor Valdés brings with him is anything other than a major coup for the club.
It’s the type of signing that has, as it should, got the fans excited. He may be coming in as number two but it can never be a bad thing to have a three-time European Cup winner to fall back on, can it? Well it can if it means he’s there to eventually replace your number one who is certainly one of the best between the posts in the world right now and only getting better. The excitement that the Valdés signing has brought to Old Trafford has also brought with it the uneasy feeling that it is a case of preparing for the worst, the departure of De Gea to Real Madrid, a move that would certainly upset our chances of pushing for the champions league places.
Questions will be and have been asked regarding the potential contract renewal of the Spaniard who’s contract expires in 18 months time. As of yet there has been no clear cut sign that De Gea will stay or that he will go. For Manchester United fans, that uneasy feeling will be reminiscent of the last time Real Madrid poached their prized asset back in 2009 with the signing of Ronaldo. Like then, speculation was rife and went unanswered and eventually led to the player deciding that Madrid would be his new home. The hope for Manchester United is that the outcome with De Gea will be different because if not the result will be the same, a club left with the impossible task of replacing a star player.
2 replies on “Valdés signing is a coup but United must keep De Gea”
A goalkeeper should never be seen as an irreplaceable star player. If he is, then there is something wrong with the team’s outfield defensive structure. If Van Gaal can get United’s outfield defensive players to perform as he wants, then the team’s over-reliance on De Gea’s shot-stopping brilliance to save the day, will lessen.
Obviously, having a high quality keeper is valuable, but his role is as a last line of defence. In a top class team where the rest of the players are performing to a high standard the keeper should be called upon less frequently to make match winning saves.
Theoretically at least, as United’s outfield defensive performances get better, then De Gea will have less work to do than has been the case recently. So if he ends up leaving, then it really should not be the end of the world. Of course, that does presuppose that Van Gaal will eventually get the back line performing as he wants.
I think you’ve overstated the signing of Valdes quite considerably. He’s a great and proven onion-bag but at the end of the day he came to the club off the back of an expired contract, and through a relationship with Van Gaal.
It’s basically been in the pipeline since he started training with the squad in October and to be honest I think the fan reaction has been quite subdued. Positive, but subdued. I’m not the only one in Manchester that wouldn’t gloss it up to be as big a victory as you have, especially when compared to Di Maria and Falcao.
Don’t get me wrong – provided Anders is on his way out, Valdes is a magnificent replacement as backup. However given his stature it could transpire that the added competition he brings may upset the stellar form that De Gea has found this season. And given the situation in defence at the moment, I sincerely hope this won’t be the case.