Barcelona calm about Valdes renewal

Several Barcelona officials have reacted over the past days on the events surrounding the renewal of the contract of Barcelona goalkeeper Víctor Valdés (27) (read more here).


Manager Josep Guardiola at a press conference:
"You already know my stand: if he wants to stay and continues, I will be delighted as I am now to have him. I trust him. He makes mistakes, like all his teammates and myself, but he gives us more than he could take away. I'm not worried about this situation because he's strong and it won't affect him.

I guess his agent knows what he's doing, but I've always thought that the more calm and the more quiet you deal with those things, the better. He knows more about this than I do but I don't know if he's helping his player with this strategy. If he has some problem, he can call Txiki. When the time is there, we will talk with Víctor about his renewal."

President Joan Laporta to journalists:
"Valdés is for me the best goalkeeper in the world and we'll take that in consideration when talking about his renewal. He will earn what he deserves. He has been decisive in important moments. Being the goalkeeper of Barça is more difficult than at any other club. We play from ball possession and our goalkeeper sees very few balls so he always has to be on top of his game.

I'm confident that we can find a good deal. We have a certain salary policy and we'll fit him into that. He wants to stay and we'll offer him a market conform salary so we can reach an agreement which satisfies both parties. The technical deparment is handling his renewal with the calmness that is necessary in those situations. "

Sports vice-president Rafael Yuste to Catalan radio station Onda Cero Catalunya:
"Everybody can be very calm about the issue. I greeted him earlier this week and when I see how happy he is, that made me feel relaxed. Víctor is the best goalkeeper in the world and we'll treat him that way. I would like Valdés to stay Barça's goalkeeper for many more years but the sports director and the manager will make the final decision."

Sports director Txiki Begiristain to journalists:
"At this moment we haven't been notified by the player that he has another agent. Until last summer, all talks were held with the father and the brother of Víctor. The truth is that we were very happy with the tone of the talks but we put things on hold because there was a serious difference about the economic part. We will now talk with Víctor and he'll tell us who we have to contact, so there shouldn't be any problem.

I want to make very clear that it's not true that he has asked to earn as much as Iker Casillas, I can assure you that. After the declarations of his agent, he reacted in a good way. He wants to stay at the club and that's what we all want because he's our first goalkeeper. His personality is a great asset, he's a youth player, he is having a solid career and he did important things for the club. Because of all this, we will fight to reach an agreement.

When the time is there, we will talk. We don't want the players to get distracted now, they should only focus on the game these last couple of months of the season. We'll negotiate all renewals at the end of the season. We don't have a ranking about who will come first but it's clear that the position of goalkeeper is one of the most important positions so we want to have certainty about it."

Read more:
Valdes calm about renewal talks
Barcelona wants to renew Valdes
AC Milan interested in Valdes