Victor Valdes rejects contract offer from Manchester United

Valdes was invited to train with Manchester United. (©GettyImages).

Manchester United have been left stunned after Victor Valdes rejected the chance to join the club on a short-term deal, reports Metro.

Citing reports from Spain, the British tabloid claim that the former Barcelona goalkeeper, who is currently a free agent, is not interested in joining Manchester United to be understudy to David de Gea.

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Cancelled deals

Louis van Gaal was ready to offer Valdes the chance to regain his fitness at Old Trafford as he continues to recover from a serious knee injury. That knee injury has seen transfers to both Monaco and Liverpool fall through.

Both clubs were unconvinced by the 32-year-old's level of fitness with the former cancelling a pre-contract that had been agreed while Valdes was still at Barcelona. Now battling to return to fitness, Van Gaal gave Valdes to perfect chance to regain his form.

He also appeared close to joining Liverpool earlier this season on a free contract as Brendan Rodgers grew doubtful over Simon Mignolet. However, the Reds walked away from a deal after Valdes failed to convince them that he was ready to be their first choice goalkeeper.

Training

The Dutchman gave Valdes the opportunity to train with Manchester United at their Carrington training ground until he can find a new team. Van Gaal share a close relationship with the Spaniard having originally given him his debut at Barcelona 12 years ago.

Valdes will work on his fitness with Manchester United but it appears he will not sign a short term deal with the club. Instead, he will look for a deal where he can go straight into the first team.

Competition

Obviously, Valdes was not ready to spend what should be his prime years as an understudy to someone almost ten years his junior. De Gea has thoroughly impressed this year despite Manchester United's less than impressive defensive record and doesn't look likely to be dropped in the near future.

Valdes would no doubt become the second choice behind Anders Lindegaard but that doesn't appear to be good enough to convince him to become a Manchester United player.