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Victor Valdes: Monaco next stop for goalkeeper, says Guillem Balague

Image: Valdes: set to join Monaco

The Revista panel believe Victor Valdes' next game will probably be for Monaco.

The Barcelona goalkeeper was forced off the field against Celta Vigo on Saturday after damaging his cruciate ligament and, having confirmed he will leave the Nou Camp at the end of the season, his career at the Catalan club is effectively over.

The injury is likely to take up to a year to heal, which means he will also miss out on this summer’s World Cup and is unlikely to play for the Spain national team again.

Revista’s Spanish football expert Guillem Balague expects him to go through with a proposed move to Ligue 1 side Monaco – and that he may be fit to play for them in the second half of next season.

“They operated on Monday and it’s a cruciate, so it’s seven months,” he explained. “When you get a cruciate, give it a year before you can recover completely.

"The bad news until a few years back was if you get that kind of injury as a goalkeeper then you really struggle to come back.

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Barcelona's first leg tie against Atletico will be their 500th European match, becoming the first club to reach that milestone.

“That’s because you have to jump and you have to move. The knee is an important part of your body.

Pre-contract

“But Ricardo tells me that operations and these kind of things can be recovered from, much better now. They have technology and possibilities.

“He should go to Monaco because he has a pre-contract with them and that’s probably where we’re going to see him next.”

Former Manchester United and Osasuna goalkeeper Ricardo was also in the Revista bar this week and expressed sympathy for Valdes.

But he backed Barcelona’s 38-year-old reserve stopper Jose Pinto, who has only played 27 times in six years at the club, to step up to the plate as the team challenge for glory in La Liga and the Champions League.

“I think Pinto has all the confidence of the team,” Ricardo said.

“He played in the past very well for Barcelona and he mixed very well with them. I doubt he will be a problem.”

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