Premier League - United set to open Valencia talks

Eurosport - Sat, 13 Jun 09:36:00 2009

Manchester United have tabled offers for Wigan Athletic's Ecuador winger Antonio Valencia, the club's chairman Dave Whelan has said.

FOOTBALL 2008-09 Premier League Wigan Antonio Valencia - 0

"They (United) have been in touch with us and we will be starting negotiations very shortly, I would imagine," Whelan said when asked about Valencia.

"United have been in touch with us over Antonio for the last two or three months, expressing an interest and actually putting cash offers on the table.

"Those things have got to be picked up now. I think they were waiting to see if Ronaldo actually went to Real, which has happened."

United said on Thursday they had accepted an £80 million bid for Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

The 23-year-old Valencia, who has featured 34 times for his country, plays in a similar position to the Portugal winger.

British media said on Saturday that Valencia would command a fee of about £17 million.

"Things will develop over the next seven to 14 days," added Whelan. "The master, which is (United manager) Sir Alex (Ferguson), he makes his moves when he is ready.

Whelan said he was not desperate to sell Valencia. "If I can keep that lad, I'm going to keep him. He is one brilliant player.

"So there is no pressure on me, or our football club to sell him. If Man United don't want to make a (written) offer, I'll be delighted and we will have him in our team next season."

However, Whelan added he would not stand in Valencia's way if he wanted to move to Old Trafford.

"If Antonio Valencia says to me, 'Chairman, I want to go to Manchester United' and we get the right fee, the deal will be done."

Reuters

Comment 28 - 47 of 47

Sort comments by: Most recent
  1. Man U should have hard bargained with Madrid and rinsed­ them out of players that we've wanted before like­ sneijder and huntelaar as part of the ronaldo deal

    From Sam, on Tue 16 Jun 12:57PM
  2. Teenbaby 77515 #43 I couldn't agree with you more.­ SAF has been able to polish gems out of nothing in the­ past and I'm sure he knows what he is doing.­ Valencia may not be THE man but who knows. Who knows­ about Ronaldo before he came to Man United? Some of his­ signings may not have worked out but in most cases­ it's because they could not adapt to the English­ game fast enough. Admittedly it will be tougher to­ defend the EPL championship next season because the­ other top three teams are getting stronger last season­ and will continue to do so this season. ManUnited in­ transition may still be in the thick of it all come the­ end of the season. We have to trust SAF. He has done it­ time and time again. Go ManUnited.

    From cokrowinoto, on Tue 16 Jun 12:52PM
  3. foster
    rafeal/johnson ferdinand vidic ­ evra
    valencia carrick/hargreaves anderson/scholes ­ silva/robben
    rooney benzema/etoo/berbatov

    From Maximus, on Sun 14 Jun 4:43PM
  4. keep the faith fergie knows what hes doing time and­ time again no player is bigger than the club, no matter­ what real madrid or barca think united are the ultamite­ no doubt ronaldo will reget the move and united will be­ rubbing their hands on the 68 million profit they made­ on the wee winker, united till idie you watch this­ space ....

    From bubs_crx, on Sun 14 Jun 3:50AM
  5. Where is your confidence on the coach! I though he was­ the best?
    He has made the best choice any good coach­ can do! The player did not wanted to stay, he disagree­ with the Coach, saying that was a bad setup for the­ champions league final, and had a bad attitude! This is­ not good for team cohesiveness. Thus selling Ronalda­ was the only choice left.

    As far as Valencia, he is­ good, but not as good as Ronalda. I would rank Valencia­ in the same alley as Tevez. Tevez is not that good, but­ he’s a fighter. I see Valencia as fighter as well, a­ player that puts everything in the field. It, might­ take him a season to get with the team, but you want­ people that are hard worker and want to be in a team!­

    This has happened before, and it will happen again.­ (Becks, Vaan, Cantona, and Ronalda.) The team might not­ perform well next season, but they will get it­ together. SFA is one of the best coaches there is in­ the world, and he still knows what he's doing.
    So­ if he SAF says he wants Valencia, then in his mind he­ has potential!

    From TeenBaby77515, on Sun 14 Jun 12:41AM
  6. Ok, I got two thumbs down for my earlier comments,­ perhaps I did not explain things too well for those­ with no technical or tactical knowledge.
    Valencia has­ only ever been at one reasonably big team Villarreal­ and they loaned him out after two games, last season he­ played 30 games and scored 3 goals, he has never played­ in any euro competition, so please do tell me, in what­ way is he good enough to play for one of the top teams,­ a team who could not match Barca, even with the­ 'best player in the world' on their side, and­ so they sell him and then possibly - the deal has not­ been done yet - buy a player who has not played for any­ of the top 30 teams, has played even one game in a Euro­ competition to replace a £80 million player.
    If Utd are­ going to contiue to be a top team the must replace top­ players with top players, there are better players­ than Valencia that utd could easily get.
    And by the way­ I do not think I have more technical or tactical­ knowledge than Fergie, but as aia questioned earlier is­ Fergie as wise as he was?

    From clive V, on Sat 13 Jun 11:46PM
  7. Yohann Pele/ Foster

    Johnson Ferdinand/ Eveans ­ Vidic Evra

    ­ carrick Anderson/ Melo

    Valencia ­ ­ Ribery

    Benzema ­ Rooney

    From minn23, on Sat 13 Jun 11:26PM
  8. no player is bigger than the team he is playing for .­ fergie has played a blinder selling ronaldo. if he does­ not want to play for united then get shut . he has not­ been the player he was last season . 80 mill is enough­ to buy someone who wants to be at united and play for­ one of the big club`s in europe . fergie know`s what he­ is doing , so have some faith in him he will buy­ someone big , but it will be for the right money .­ hopefully he will be able to get tevez , i think he is­ a work horse . i hope we all have a good season cheers­ regards lancer .

    From martynhampton, on Sat 13 Jun 11:13PM
  9. van der sar
    o'shea-----------­ ferdinand/evans-------vidic----------evra

    ­ ROBEEN---------carrick-----------scholes--------------r­ ooney

    ­ tevez/E'TO--------------------------berbatov

    From haidar.javed, on Sat 13 Jun 11:07PM
  10. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Fuccccccck nani. the only reason hes playin for us is­ coz ronaldo was his bum chum. Sell nani. Sign valencia.­ give anderson til christmas. then sell him if he still­ can't kick a fucccckin ball in a net. And just­ spend the 80 mil on booze to celebrate getting rid of­ nani anderson ronaldo and tevez.

    From Smack My Fish Up, on Sat 13 Jun 10:54PM
  11. lyndsey-mike- i know things have gone over evaluated in­ the prem but £300 for nani is going to far.

    From ripped of, on Sat 13 Jun 9:45PM
  12. valencia and tevez permanently. we will still dominate­ cos all the top foreighners are leaving england.­ hopefully fifa will investigate spanish football and­ allow them to field only one government team per­ competition, as uniteds feeder clubs cant enter europe­ if united are there only barca or madrid should be able­ to enter, or there is a conflict of interest?

    From ripped of, on Sat 13 Jun 9:43PM
  13. should sell nani , would probably get £300 for him

    From lyndsay_mike, on Sat 13 Jun 9:36PM
  14. vds
    rafael rio vidic evra
    valencia carrick sneijder ­ robben
    rooney eto'o

    From jacktrewin, on Sat 13 Jun 7:39PM
  15. Whilst Valencia would be a good start, we desperately­ need at least two athletic, skilful and pacey­ midfielders and preferably in the six foot range. Our­ present midfield midgets are far too light-weight and­ are not good enough.

    From BRIAN, on Sat 13 Jun 7:36PM
  16. I am a utd fan, but I am now getting more sure that­ Fergie is losing the wisdom he has had, going again for­ another player who has only showed he can be good­ against the lower teams is a mistake, not that Valencia­ might not be a good signing, the problem is that we­ already have enough might make it players, Berbatov,­ Andersen and Nani are at the top of that list.
    We need­ to buy players who have proved they can be good against­ the top teams, Barca, Madrid, Inter, Milan, etc,­ etc.
    As I have already said in other articles Utd need­ to buy players like David Villa and David Silva, Silva­ is a perfect player to replace Ronaldo, he can play on­ both sides on the wing and has lots of skills and pace,­ he has also been loyal to his team and has not been­ trying to get any team to buy him; both players were­ involved in Spain winning the Euro 2008, Villa scored­ the most goals in Euro 2008, more that Torres.

    In the­ end the big question must be, why sell on the best­ players in the world and then replace him with an­ average player, average compared to the best players?

    From clive V, on Sat 13 Jun 6:19PM
  17. i think sir alex must nego with igor akinfeev from cska­ moscow before other team start to bid this awsome­ player..
    why not rite?

    From ejoi, on Sat 13 Jun 5:40PM
  18. fergie wont be signing benzema or rebary or any other­ expensive player as valcencia will do the trick on the­ wing along with a new striker if tevez decides to go­ and just bringing in a new defender and goalkeeper

    From Paul T, on Sat 13 Jun 5:26PM
  19. i think sir alex need to bu scout matias fernandes he­ is very good in midfield area and he is very good­ freekick taker...go and after matias fernandes­ (villareal)..i hope u all agree with me..

    From ejoi, on Sat 13 Jun 5:17PM
  20. RONALDINHIO

    HE WILL SCORE GOALS

    WE NEED SOMEONE LIKE­ HIM AROUND ABOUT (20MILLION)

    ALEX WILL SORT HIM OUT­ GOOD

    From haidar.javed, on Sat 13 Jun 4:55PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account