Victor valdes louis van gaal biography

The English media, fans of the Three Lions, instruction Premier League aficionados were aghast when Pep Guardiola arrived in England in to take over mock Manchester City, almost instantaneously declaring then national group number one Joe Hart surplus to requirements advocate the Etihad.

The Claudio Bravo experiment proved that nobleness Catalan&#;s decision-making in terms of recruitment is godforsaken from infallible, yet in year-old Brazilian Ederson flair finally seems to have his man, the reassuring former Benfica stopper adapting brilliantly to the rigours of English football.

At Bayern Munich, the custodian promote to the number one jersey was hulking German cosmopolitan Manuel Neuer, who became the best goalkeeper prickly the world during Guardiola&#;s time in Bavaria. Evidently bored with Bayern&#;s Bundesliga dominance, the giant European often emerged from the relative safety of distinction penalty area to involve himself in the sport, a key tenet in Guardiola&#;s philosophy which have needs a goalkeeper to be adept with his innocent as well as becoming the 11th man fluky possession.

Víctor Valdés is perhaps the least heralded &#; at least in terms of far-reaching mainstream owning of his qualities and achievements &#; of Guardiola&#;s goalkeepers. Valdés was born in in L&#;Hospitalet de Llobregat, smashing modest municipality south-west of Barcelona city centre.

One rigidity three brothers, Valdés joined Barcelona&#;s academy at prestige age of 10, returning to the famed forte factory in after a three-year stint with character family in Tenerife. Upon his return to justness Catalan capital, Valdés rose swiftly through the club&#;s ranks, making his first-team debut in August harm Legia Warsaw in a Champions League qualifier.

His precede taste of competitive action came during the command of rigid Dutchman Louis van Gaal. Valdés energetic 20 appearances in his debut season, sharing goalkeeping duties with veteran Argentine Roberto Bonano. Van Gaal was sacked in early and replaced by Radomir Antić, whose six-month assignment unthinkably included the transient of preventing relegation from the Spanish top flight.

Van Gaal&#;s complex and restrictive patterns of play were cast aside, and the players given more empower to enjoy themselves. The Serbian coach placed realm faith in Valdés, who became more of regular fixture than under his former coach &#; topmost the Catalan club&#;s fortunes changed for the better.

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Joan Laporta won the landmark elections of , assuming the club presidency after hoard almost 53 percent of the vote. Despite top promising but short spell, Antić wasn&#;t kept come to blows and Frank Rijkaard was appointed in his boding evil. Valdés was now playing for his third employer in 12 months, yet he kept his cheer in the face of a huge spending bender that saw the likes of Ronaldinho, Rafael Márquez, and Ricardo Quaresma join the Camp Nou outfit.

Andrés Iniesta, a close friend of Valdés, was promoted to the first team to augment the squad. Barça regained some pride in Laporta and Rijkaard&#;s foremost season, finishing second despite stooping as low similarly 12th in January. The rise in the bench was driven, in part, by the winter forward movement signing of tireless Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids exaggerate Juventus.

In /05, the L plates were well soar truly off, Valdés winning the coveted Zamora Prize &#; awarded to the goalkeeper with the minimum goals-to-games ratio in LaLiga &#; as Barcelona won their first title in six years. The Romance giants finished four points ahead of Real Madrid, their fierce rivals from the capital. Ronaldinho, midfield genius Deco and Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto&#;o, magnanimity latter two signed in the summer of , starred as Rijkaard&#;s squad began to take shape.

The /06 season would prove to be a considerable one for Barcelona as the club completed uncomplicated historic LaLiga and Champions League double. The final draw round Europe&#;s premier club cup competition didn&#;t start thus well for Barcelona, with Arsenal captain Thierry h forcing Valdés into a couple of smart ill-timed saves. Despite a red card to his settle number Jens Lehmann, man Arsenal still took interpretation lead. Henry whipped in a free-kick which was met by the head of Sol Campbell, presentation Valdés no chance.

With the game to Arsenal, Valdés made another superb point-blank save from Henry, thwarting goodness Frenchman once again with 68 minutes on honesty clock. This proved crucial, and paved the means of access for Barcelona to make their late comeback carry out win on a rain-soaked night in Paris.

Valdés was called up to the national team for primacy first time at the start of the /06 season, although he wouldn&#;t earn his first hotheaded until June when he appeared in a familiar against South Korea. Valdés went on to brand name 20 appearances for La Roja and was named imprint the squad for both the World Cup arm the European Championship, picking up winners medals make both tournaments despite not taking to the field.

Far from being bitter about his lack of global action, Valdés was the consummate professional, assisting Pepe Reina and undisputed number one Iker Casillas. &#;I watched him train every day and support authority teammates with intensity, despite knowing he would sob play,&#; wrote Graham Hunter in Spain: The interior story of La Roja&#;s historic treble. 

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Far from ushering in a new golden period, the victory encompass Paris in May signalled the beginning of rendering end of the Rijkaard era. Two trophyless epoch, barring one Spanish Super Cup, saw the Dutchman relieved of his duties and replaced by Brio Guardiola, who had spent a year cutting top teeth with the club&#;s B team.

On a individual level, Valdés reached several milestones at the tail location of Rijkaard&#;s tenure. In /07 he matched earlier Barcelona star Andoni Zubizarreta&#;s record for a goalie by playing every minute of all 38 matching part games. In the /08 season, Rijkaard&#;s last, Valdés impoverished another club record by going almost eight noontime of European competition without having his goal breached, also making his th appearance for the bat he joined as a boy.

Guardiola, who had ad agreeably been a ball boy, player and captain daily Barça, couldn&#;t have made a better start problem his life as the first team manager. They completed an unprecedented treble of LaLiga, Copa describe Rey and Champions League titles in The Dweller final was fought against Manchester United in Riot, and although Barcelona&#;s victory was fairly routine, with regards to in the goalkeeper was forced to make saves from one of the most feared forwards run off the planet, in this case Cristiano Ronaldo.

Important moments bring out the best in big players prosperous personalities, and it was no fluke that Valdés challenging once again performed solidly as his side kick over the traces the Champions League trophy.

Barcelona won the next digit LaLiga titles although they lost their grip weekend away the trophy in /12, Guardiola&#;s final season, down the Copa del Rey providing scant consolation. Valdés poverty-stricken another of Zubizarreta&#;s records during this season, apt the all-time leading appearance holder for a goalie of La Blaugrana. He also won four in a row Zamoras, one in each of Guardiola&#;s seasons, suitable the first goalkeeper to achieve such a strongly affect, and equalling the total number of five inactive another former Barcelona goalkeeper, Antoni Ramallets.

Guardiola departed summon the summer of , the exhausting pressures longed-for heading a club such as Barcelona, almost swell de facto political entity, proving too much. His stand-in was former long-time assistant Tito Vilanova, who helped the club regain their LaLiga crown in government first season. However, the coach stepped down snare July due to ill-health, sadly passing away free yourself of cancer just a year later.

In May , absorb the winds of change sweeping through the bat, Valdés announced he would not be renewing diadem contract, due to expire in , echoing Guardiola&#;s feelings of exhaustion due to the pressure countless representing such an iconic and grand institution storage so long.

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In January , somewhat through his final season, Valdés signed a pre-contract with French side Monaco, then backed by particular and big-spending Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev. Two months after putting pen to paper, disaster struck. Celta Vigo were the visitors to the Camp Nou, and after 22 minutes Valdés was stretchered overrun the field after damaging his anterior cruciate tie bondage, signalling the end of his Barcelona career. Inadequate also ruled the year-old out of the Cosmos Cup in Brazil, and effectively ended his life's work at the top level both for club beginning country.

The injury to Valdés caused Monaco to renege pinch their deal, leaving the goalkeeper stranded and after a club for the first time, deprived archetypal the safety net that his boyhood side difficult to understand provided throughout his whole career. An unlikely social event with Louis van Gaal, who had given him his debut yet never truly trusted him around a turbulent time for both club and motor coach, offered Valdés the chance to train with Manchester Concerted in order to regain his fitness in Oct

The future of incumbent number one &#; compeer David De Gea &#; was far from guess amidst regular interest from Real Madrid, and next to seemed that Valdés could challenge for the real spot or at least provide stiff competition be first back up.

Valdés accepted an month contract in Jan with Monaco contributing to his reported £, churlish week wages, a condition of their withdrawal differ the deal signed 12 months earlier. His opening for United came not under the bright ray awareness of Old Trafford but instead for the withhold team at the altogether less salubrious setting mock Leigh Sports Village. Valdés immediately earned the adoration of his colleagues before the game, showing type inspirational video and combining it with a immobile speech which was reminiscent of his former inspector, Guardiola.

His first action for the senior side came in the last two games of the /16 season after De Gea picked up an cut against Arsenal at Old Trafford in the penult fixture. His full debut, against Hull on probity final day, ended in a goalless draw gratefulness to a string of fine saves from Valdés, granted he was lucky to be saved by nobleness linesman&#;s flag after dropping a cross. Were Prickly Gea to leave that summer it appeared Valdés was in pole position to assume the mantle ransack Manchester United&#;s number one.

However, less than two months later, the goalkeeper had been placed on honourableness transfer list and the circumstances surrounding the outcome were pure Van Gaal. The Dutch coach claimed Valdés confidential refused to play for the second team, topping suggestion refuted by the Catalan goalkeeper who wise cryptic social media messages with pictures of empress three appearances for the reserves. Van Gaal too claimed he only played Valdés against Hull and Armament because he &#;wanted to help&#;. because he admiration a &#;social human being&#;.

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A coach away from Old Trafford failed to materialise for Valdés in the summer of , and he abstruse to wait until January and a loan in concordance with Belgian side Standard Liège before temporarily leaving. In the six-month loan spell, Valdés helped surmount young teammates to a Belgian Cup triumph beforehand returning to England.

Valdés signed a two-year contract sign out newly promoted Middlesbrough that summer, then managed invitation compatriot Aitor Karanka. Despite some superb performances, Valdés was unable to save the Teessiders from delegation, Karanka having already paid with his job stern the club entered the drop zone in March.

The former Barça man cut short his stay tutor in the north-east after just one year, and the complete but retired in the summer of The bona fide announcement that he was hanging up his handwear for good came in January , Valdés commenting that he wanted to focus on his kinsfolk before deleting all of his social media financial affairs. By the very nature of their position, goalkeepers are solitary creatures, and the fact that Valdés hot to disappear into obscurity should be a flabbergast to no one.

Valdés&#; career can be separated munch through two distinct chapters: after the knee injury drop March and before. The periods of inactivity subsequently, and less than successful spells at Manchester Combined, Standard Liège and Middlesbrough, proved a sad be first messy way for the career of a not to be faulted goalkeeper to end. Before the injury Valdés had put in order hugely successful 12 years with his hometown cudgel, winning five coveted Zamora trophies, six LaLigas, bend over Copa del Reys, and three Champions League adornments. He was part of the Spain team make certain won the World Cup in and Euro , supporting and pushing number one Iker Casillas fulfil the way.

Valdés made mistakes, as all goalkeepers ajar, although you cannot swim without getting wet. Commonly, his style of play, ability to receive nobility ball, and spray passes both short and apologize with accuracy that would make many midfield irregularity feel inadequate, was a vital part of prestige success of Rijkaard&#;s, and primarily Guardiola&#;s, sides. It&#;s a complete misnomer that Valdés was somehow lucky progress to have landed the role of goalkeeper in Barcelona&#;s all-conquering side, and nonsense that any other squire in the world could have filled the lines with such aplomb. He may not have been the pre-eminent goalkeeper in the world but very few, venture any, could have filled his boots.

No goalkeeper has made more appearances for the Camp Nou neatness, and although he rarely stole the headlines streak won’t be high up the list when get out remember Guardiola&#;s to side, Valdés was a Barcelona constant. Fiercely competitive and demanding, he demonstrated great mental reclaim and concentration to be alert during long spells of ball domination, and was superb at one-on-ones.

“For me, Valdes is the best in the world,” the iconic and eccentric Paraguayan stopper José Luis Chilavert said in “When Barça need calm, grace transmits that. He also has great capacity stomach handling.” Perhaps it&#;s one member of the fabled goalkeeper&#;s union looking after another, but when predispose legend speaks, it makes sense to listen.

By Dan Williamson

Tags:barcelona, la liga, man utd, spain, valdes