The Antonio Valencia Thread

[Richie]

Seeing as he is now officially ours I think he deserves a thread in the United Chat section.

So how do you think he will do?
How do you think he will come on as a player?
How many goals do you expect to see him scoring and what effect will he have on the team?
What number shirt will he get?

Personally, I think he will be unspectacular but a good little signing. I think he will also help us to dominate the midfield, with his hard work, pace and playmaking. More in the style of Beckham than Ronaldo.

Even though he is only 23, I don't think there is loads to come from him in terms of potential but I think we will have a consistently effective player for quite a few years and will be a good member of the team. If he could get himself on the scoresheet a bit more as time goes on he will be a really excellent buy.

I don't however think he is a good enough replacement for Ronaldo and I'm fairly sure Fergie will see things that way too. We needed a winger anyway last season before Ronaldo left and I see Valencia as that player. We could still do with another winger and a goal-scorer.


Anyway, welcome to Manchester United, Antonio Valencia!

[Adam]

yeah, he's a good addition, and fergie has pursued him for long enough to know what he's in for. it seems like he's a hard worker who has a bit of pace, and also isn't shy in the tackle. sounds like a pretty good start, but i'll reserve judgment on him until i really see him for united.
i see he has about 5 in 30 for ecuador, which is about what i want to see from him for the first year at least. he's not going to be anywhere near ronaldo, and we need to be careful not to make comparisons to an almost incomparable player but hopefully he can get himself up to a solid 15 a season player eventually.
and yeah, i reckon he's pretty much a shoe in for the #7

[versa]

From previous postings reproduced here, Fergie would have some work to do but a good platform to work from nonetheless, on top of his pace, skills and industry:

Born: 04/08/1985; Lago Agrio, Ecuador

Previous Clubs: El Nacional, Villarreal, Wigan Athletic

International caps: 34 appearances, 4 goals [4/34]

Wigan Athletic record: 83 appearances, 7 goals [7/83]

------------------------Valencia-----Ronaldo
Cross completion----------33%---------16%
Tackles made-------------120----------18
Dribble success-----------44%---------30%

I don't think he can reach anywhere near Ronaldo's standard but certainly looks good for a starter. How far he can develop still and whether he will really take off under Fergie remains to be seen.

[Richie]

yeah, he's a good addition, and fergie has pursued him for long enough to know what he's in for. it seems like he's a hard worker who has a bit of pace, and also isn't shy in the tackle. sounds like a pretty good start, but i'll reserve judgment on him until i really see him for united.
i see he has about 5 in 30 for ecuador, which is about what i want to see from him for the first year at least. he's not going to be anywhere near ronaldo, and we need to be careful not to make comparisons to an almost incomparable player but hopefully he can get himself up to a solid 15 a season player eventually.
and yeah, i reckon he's pretty much a shoe in for the #7

Yeah he's more than that too though he is a decent dribbler and good passer of the ball too.

But as you say, we can't see him as a replacement for Ronaldo because that is an impossible task, hopefully he will just be sign as one of a few additions to the team.

I'm not sure about number 7 either, I have to say I don't think he's worthy of it. If we could get Benzema I'd give it to him but if not I think Rooney deserves it.

[Cappy]

Yeah he's more than that too though he is a decent dribbler and good passer of the ball too.

But as you say, we can't see him as a replacement for Ronaldo because that is an impossible task, hopefully he will just be sign as one of a few additions to the team.

I'm not sure about number 7 either, I have to say I don't think he's worthy of it. If we could get Benzema I'd give it to him but if not I think Rooney deserves it.

Thought Rooney was happy about being 10.

[Richie]

Thought Rooney was happy about being 10.

I bet he'd prefer 7 though, although he is now our main shirt-seller and the board won't want people to have to pay for 1 less letter now so I guess its out of the question

[Carlo]

I put this is the Benzema thread by mistake

I just got in and only just saw the news. Great stuff, it was pretty obvious he was coming to us anyway but I'm still delighted to be signing a player who I've been singing his praises for the last 18 months or so and hoping we were going to get. Welcome Antonio. And if there is any truth in Pjanic's statement then I will be absolutely over the moon. 1 more winger and then we're all set. Ready to take on the world again

[antdevil78]

did ronaldo deserve no.7 when he joined. not at the time. give it to valencia in my opinion.

as for the signing. he looked good for wigan. just hope he aint gonna be one of these players that shines for lesser clubs and then chokes when stepping up to the bigger stage. eg. nani, kleb, veron (although he had been at some massive clubs).

what i am going to be glad to see is a right wing operating without any petulance, arm flailing, dummy spitting. Ronaldo was another class but its gone to his head. Teams will know now that if you play rough and hard with him, he chokes. Valencia will hopefully be a completely different player, a breath of fresh air and in 30 years time hopefully a statue of him outside Old Trafford.

[Adam]

Yeah he's more than that too though he is a decent dribbler and good passer of the ball too.

But as you say, we can't see him as a replacement for Ronaldo because that is an impossible task, hopefully he will just be sign as one of a few additions to the team.

I'm not sure about number 7 either, I have to say I don't think he's worthy of it. If we could get Benzema I'd give it to him but if not I think Rooney deserves it.

hm, rooney's had the 10 for a couple of years, and i reckon he wouldn't really want 7. it's associated a bit more with a winger and we all have our opinion on roo playing out wide

old trafford have done the wonderfully kind thing of making you pay a fee for name (£7 i think) and the same for number, doesn't matter if it's a long name with 2 numbers.

and we complain about them raising prices, when it's really to subsidise their cut price shirt printing

[Adam]

did ronaldo deserve no.7 when he joined. not at the time. give it to valencia in my opinion.

that was another thing i forgot to say.
if fergie sees him as having the potential to be a great here, then he'll get the 7

[Justice]

Anyone seeing a new trend of United players? Rooney, Anderson, Hargo, Valencia...

Hard workers WITH great technical skill.

[Richie]

To be fair though, when Cantona left and we brought in Sheringham, Beckham moved into the 7 shirt from 10 and Sheringham got the 10 shirt if my memory serves me correctly.

[Richie]

Anyone seeing a new trend of United players? Rooney, Anderson, Hargo, Valencia...

Hard workers WITH great technical skill.

That's not a new trend.

Edwards, Charlton, Best, Robson, Keane, Ince, Beckham, Hughes, I could go on but I'm sure you get the point.

Plus we have also recently brough in the ilkes of Nani and Berbatov who you wouldn't exactly describe as hard workers.

[Justice]

That's not a new trend.

Edwards, Charlton, Best, Robson, Keane, Ince, Beckham, Hughes, I could go on but I'm sure you get the point.

Plus we have also recently brough in the ilkes of Nani and Berbatov who you wouldn't exactly describe as hard workers.

Berbatov has worked harder for us than he did for Spurs, infectious atmosphere.

But yeah Nani is a lazy prick.

I meant it as in we're starting to see a more hard working team over all, not just one or two players but perhaps the whole of the midfield will be full pelt for 90 minutes players.

[Richie]

Berbatov has worked harder for us than he did for Spurs, infectious atmosphere.

But yeah Nani is a lazy prick.

I meant it as in we're starting to see a more hard working team over all, not just one or two players but perhaps the whole of the midfield will be full pelt for 90 minutes players.

Again that's nothing new either. Previously in Ferguson's reign we have had a midfield of Giggs - Scholes - Keane - Beckham and Giggs - Robson - Ince - Kanchelskias (excuse the spelling)

And generally throughout the Ferguson reign we have had entire teams of hardworkers.

[NateR]

He is not gonna be our No.7. No offense to him, but he is not worthy of that shirt.
He wouldn't have been my choice, but anyway..welcome to him. I hope he does the business for us and best of luck to him.

[manutd004]

I'm very pleased at this signing and I'm looking forward to seeing him play for us. He's got good technical skill and he works hard. I think he'll become a very good signing for us and I'm sure there will be another signing to follow.

[goonerkas]

stats dont show the whole story,but eboue scored 1 goal more than this lad last year.

[sweet fa]

i think valencia will pleasantly surprise most utd fans , ok he ain't a big name {yet} but valencia has bags of pace and he a very hardworking player with good technique .
he can't replace ronaldo nobody can in todays game , but it would be no surprise if he proves to be utds best midfielder {winger} next season , he won't score many but he will create more than 10 goals next season and that will come in handy.

[Alice]

I think this is a good signing on the face of it, we definitely do need a winger and I've always rated Valencia as a quality young winger (didn't realise he was only 23 - this pleases me) who will give us a lot of pace and width down the wings. We do need a winger because Giggs hasn't got the legs for it anymore and our current two wingers - Nani and Park - are either quite inconsistent or relatively average. Although I do rate both of them as well. I love seeing pacey wingers with a good cross.

I do think the price is a bit steep, but remember all of United's signings are inflated these days, plus clubs know how much money we have now from selling Ronaldo.

My only concern is his goal return. What we need to do first and foremost is sign a player (or players) that will make up for the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez's goals. We've lost 2 strikers and that is going to hit us hard unless we sign a goal scoring replacement. Valencia doesn't get many goals, so whilst he is a good signing, we are going to need another - hopefully a striker - to make our team complete.

As for those saying he's not United standard, I've always rated him and lets reserve judgement for when he's playing amongst other quality players here at United.