Manchester United’s in-form midfielder Juan Mata is disappointed by the treatment that fellow international teammate Victor Valdes is receiving at Old Trafford, following an alleged fallout with manager Louis van Gaal.
The former FC Barcelona shot-stopper made his debut for the Red Devils last season in the draw against Arsenal FC, after David De Gea injured himself during the match. However, the 33-year-old has been frozen out of the first team after he apparently refused to play for the reserves last year in a bid to protect his knee from further injuries.
Van Gaal blamed Valdes as the one at fault for conceding the goals against Arsenal FC and also against Hull City in the final game of last season and cited the lack of match practice as the reason behind his poor showing. The 33-year-old has not been assigned a squad number and was also omitted from the official squad photograph.
After being shunted out of the first team and being told that he has no future at the club, Valdes was expected to move in the summer. However, the Spaniard could not engineer a move to any other club when talks broke down with Turkish side Besiktas. He would now be looking to move in the January transfer window more so because with David De Gea looking to stay at the club, his chances of getting playing time has further been reduced.
Valdes has proved himself as a goalkeeper — Juan Mata
Juan Mata hailed the Spaniard as a ‘great goalkeeper’, who has proved himself at the highest level and wishes to compete for top honours. He did, however, continue to claim ignorance regarding the reason behind the fallout of the shot-stopper and Van Gaal.
The Spaniard was quoted by the Mirror as saying:
a Ita s a shame what is happening with him as he is a great goalkeeper.
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a He wants to compete and has proved himself as a goalkeeper.
a I dona t know what happened between him and Van Gaal. That is something only they can say.a