Transfer talk: Manchester United set to sign Victor Valdes; rivals Man City near Wilfried Bony deal

Manchester United and Manchester City appear set for big-name arrivals while Leicester City appear to have orchestrated a coup in landing sought-after Croatian Andrej Kramaric.

Victor Valdes played 387 La Liga matches with Barcelona from 2002-2014. Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP

Manchester United

Manchester United are closing in on the signing of free agent Victor Valdes.

The former Barcelona goalkeeper has been training with United since October and Press Association Sport understands he has accepted the offer of an 18-month contract with the Premier League club.

Manager Louis van Gaal is a big fan of Valdes – he gave the Spaniard his Barcelona debut in 2002 – and he hopes the 32-year-old will provide strong competition for first choice David De Gea.

Valdes was an ever-present during his 12-year spell at Barca, but he will have to fight hard to dislodge De Gea, who has enjoyed a superb season at Old Trafford.

De Gea has 18 months left to run on his deal, but the club are confident he will sign a new contract despite interest from Real Madrid.

Valdes’ arrival, which could be formally announced on Thursday, may lead to the exit of Anders Lindegaard, who has not played a game for United since Van Gaal took over.

Valdes would be Van Gaal’s seventh signing for United.

Manchester City

Wilfried Bony edged closer to a reported £30 million (Dh166.6m) transfer from Swansea City to Premier League champions Manchester City on Wednesday with his representatives expecting completion "in the next few days".

The 26-year-old Ivory Coast striker moved to Wales from Dutch outfit Vitesse Arnhem in 2013 and just seven weeks ago extended his deal with Swansea until 2018.

But his agent, Francis Kacou, said Wednesday: “Things will be sorted in the next few days.”

Bony, who will be playing at the Africa Cup of Nations later this month in Equatorial Guinea, said he was looking forward to featuring in the Champions League knock-out rounds for Manuel Pellegrini’s team.

“Every player wants to play Champions League, World Cups. It is the wish of every player,” Bony told Sky Sports.

“When you get the opportunity ... sometimes good ones, sometimes not, but I am just taking it step by step. I am focusing on my national team and wait to see the news like you.”

Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid have made their second signing of the January transfer window with the capture of Villarreal playmaker Cani on loan for the rest of the season.

The 33-year-old has made over 300 appearances during a nine-year stay with Villarreal and is likely to fill the gap left by the departure of Alessio Cerci to AC Milan in a swap deal that saw Fernando Torres return to La Liga champions Atletico after a seven-year absence last week.

“He is an experienced player in our league and has tremendous quality that will increase the competition within the squad,” Atletico’s sporting director Jose Luis Caminero said in a statement on the club’s website.

“He is used to handling great responsiblity and we are happy with his arrival because we believe he will offer a lot in the decisive part of the season.”

Leicester City

Premier League strugglers Leicester City have signed sought-after Croatia striker Andrej Kramaric from Rijeka on a three and a half year deal, the Croatian club said on Wednesday.

“Now officially we can say that (Rijeka) has completed the transfer of Andrej Kramaric to Leicester City,” the HNK Rijeka website quoted sporting director Ivan Mance as saying of the 23-year-old.

The Leicester Mercury newspaper reported that Kramaric passed a medical on Tuesday but the deal, reportedly a club record of nearly £10m with add-ons and bonuses, was subject to a work permit.

There was no official word from Leicester, who are three points adrift at the bottom of the Premier League and in urgent need of goals.

Kramaric, who had also been linked to Chelsea, has form in that department and scored a Croatian record eight goals for Rijeka in a single domestic cup match in 2013.

Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp enjoys the club’s full backing, despite his team being in 17th place in the Bundesliga, with CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke saying on Wednesday they would never sack the 47-year-old.

Dortmund, champions in 2011 and 2012, have been languishing in the bottom spots of the Bundesliga table and lost 10 of their 17 matches in the first half of the season.

“We will never sack Jurgen Klopp,” Watzke told SportBild magazine. “He has a lot of merits at the club. It will never come to a confrontational situation with him.”

Klopp, who took over in 2008 and also led them to the 2013 Champions League final, has suffered his worst first half to a season at Dortmund, Bundesliga runners-up in 2014.

The coach has already reacted, signing Slovenian Kevin Kampl from Red Bull Salzburg to boost his midfield in a reported EU€12m (Dh52m) deal. The league resumes on January 30.

Despite their bad domestic run Dortmund are still in the running for the Champions League title, taking on Juventus in the round of 16 next month.

Malaga

Malaga say defender Vitorino Antunes has agreed to extend his contract until the end of the 2018/19 season.

The 27-year-old Portuguese left back arrived to Malaga during the 2012/13 season. He has played in 12 league matches for Malaga this season, helping them to seventh place after 17 matches.

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