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It seems that rumours that Victor Valdes was to be offered a trial to prove his fitness, and then that the goalkeeper had balked at being offered a trial to prove his fitness, were getting rather a touch ahead of things. According to Valdes' agent, there was no offer. And as there was no offer, naturally they haven't turned anything down.
"This proposal was never made to us by Brendan Rodgers or Liverpool at any moment," said Gines Carvajal in response to suggestions his client's long-rumoured Liverpool move was falling apart over the question of whether he could prove his fitness. "Liverpool has not offered training for four days. We have not rejected the offer because it is false."
Talk of a difference over wages, which have also been mooted as a possible stumbling block in recent days, are also not what would be holding up any potential deal. What would be holding up any potential deal would be that it turns out that, rather than being on the verge of full fitness today, Valdes' recovery is likely to take at the very least until the end of October.
According to the Liverpool Echo and other sources with ties to the club, that means any negotiations with the player haven't yet progressed beyond sounding out Valdes' people. There have been talks, but as yet no offers, and any progress towards getting a deal done won't take place until Valdes is fully recovered—though a trial to prove it appears unlikely.
Whether Valdes ends up a Liverpool player is still far from a certainty, but rather than any move for him being on the verge of collapse as some have suggested over the past week, the truth is that any serious negotiations are still a few weeks off based on his recovery schedule. So we'll probably get to go through this all over again at the start of November.
For the time being, then, everyone can dial back their Valdes rumour clocks to where they were the first week of September and look forward to another month of quiet will he or won't he rumblings.
