Antonio Valencia mulls move away from Manchester United
Antonio Valencia is considering leaving Manchester United next month after becoming disenchanted with life at Old Trafford.
Antonio Valencia is considering leaving Manchester United next month after becoming disenchanted with life at Old Trafford under Jose Mourinho. The club captain started only his seventh game of the season on Thursday (AEDT) when United stumbled to a 2-1 defeat against Valencia in the Champions League.
The Ecuadorian was named club captain at the beginning of the campaign after Michael Carrick’s retirement but he has not started a league game in almost three months. A little under two years ago, Mourinho described Valencia as the best right back in the world, but the £19 million ($33m) summer signing of Diogo Dalot from Porto has put the 33-year-old’s long-term future at the club in doubt.
Mourinho recently claimed that Dalot, 19, could be the club’s right back for the next 10 years. Valencia has told friends that he fears he cannot win Mourinho over and is thinking about leaving the club that he joined from Wigan Athletic in 2009.
Two months ago, Valencia apologised after “liking” an Instagram post from a fan that called for Mourinho to be sacked. He claimed that he did not read the disparaging caption of the post, which was published by a Valencia fan account, before “liking” it.
Valencia’s representatives flew to Manchester this week to discuss his future. It is understood that they spoke about the possibility of a January exit for the player, who will be 34 in August.
Valencia has been linked with a move to Major League Soccer and teams across Europe. His contract is due to expire at the end of June but United have the option to extend it by a further 12 months. Those close to Valencia claim that United have not offered him an extension beyond June 2020.
As well as Valencia and Dalot, Mourinho has other options at right back in Ashley Young and Matteo Darmian.
Valencia is one of 10 players whose contracts expire next year. Anthony Martial, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Darmian and Andreas Pereira are also out of contract in June. The club have one-year options on their contracts.
United are keen to agree a long-term deal with Martial but he is yet to commit his future to the club. Philippe Lamboley, Martial’s agent, said in the off-season that his client wanted to leave Old Trafford, but the forward has since worked his way back into the first team and could sign a contract extension. Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, is keen to keep Martial, as is Mourinho, even though he was willing to let the forward go in the summer.
Woodward hopes goalkeeper David De Gea will sign a new deal. United triggered a one-year extension to his contract, meaning that he will stay until the summer of 2020, but De Gea wants a contract worth near that of Alexis Sanchez, who is on about £350,000 per week. United are also in talks with Ander Herrera, Young and Juan Mata about extensions. The club do not have 12-month options on their deals.
Mourinho’s squad is ravaged by injury, but Smalling is willing to have a painkilling injection to play away to Liverpool on Sunday despite a hairline fracture in his foot.
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