Victor Valdes was one of Middlesbrough’s better performers as Aitor Karanka’s men fought to secure a draw away to Manchester City. Valdes wasn’t flawless, and just before Middlesbrough got their injury time equaliser, he made a mistake which left kevin De Bruyne a chance to finish the game off… but the Belgian fluffed his lines.
That partly encouraged Valdes to leave, running his contract down. Barcelona fans begged Valdes to reconsider and stay, but the goalkeeper was stubborn and agreed a contract with AS Monaco.
A serious knee injury scuppered that, and Valdes eventually signed for Manchester United after a period training with the club.
That didn’t work out and a loan move to Belgium’s Standard Liege was a long way from being a great success.
At Middlesbrough things have gone better and the performance against Manchester City has seen Valdes get into Gazzetta dello Sport’s European Team of the Week.
He’s one of four players from the Premier League to be included, and joins Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho and Chelsea pair Marcos Alonso and Eden Hazard.
