Wigan winger Antonio Valencia could be on his way to Real
Madrid in a mega-money move
Wigan
will demand £20million for Antonio Valencia if Real Madrid
follow up their interest in the Ecuador winger, it emerged on
Tuesday night.
As Liverpool's
Jermaine Pennant indicated that his move to the Bernabeu could be
revived after confirming Sportsmail's exclusive last week that
Real had agreed a shock £3.5m deal with Liverpool, Valencia's agent
spoke of the 'beautiful opportunity' his client would find
difficult to turn down.
'It would be a dream for Antonio to move to Real Madrid,' said
Diego Herrera, who insisted he had not had any direct contact with
the Spanish giants, their sporting director Predrag Mijatovic or
his assistant Carlos Bucero.
'Until there is something official I don't want to say anything.
When there is an official announcement from someone with authority
at Madrid, called Mijatovic or Bucero, telling us of an offer, then
we will talk. 'I have understood that Madrid want to close the
signing they are chasing during the first week of January.'
Wigan believe Valencia, 23, is second only to Cristiano Ronaldo
among the top wingers in Europe. The club suspect Real have
underestimated their desire to keep a player who signed permanently
on a three-and-a-half-year deal from Villarreal in January after
impressing on loan at the JJB Stadium.
Owner Dave Whelan does not have to sell and will hold out for an
offer of £20m, although he might be prepared to accept a figure
closer to the £16.6m being reported in Spain if Real pay the
majority of it up front rather than try to break it down into
instalments.
Either way, it appeared increasingly likely last night that
Madrid will try to make Valencia their third signing of the
transfer window following the capture of Portsmouth midfielder
Lassana Diarra and Ajax striker Klaas -Jan Huntelaar.
Herrera's colleague Pedro Romero added: 'Next week it will be
known if Antonio will finally become a Real Madrid player.
'Valencia doesn't want to say anything because people could
misunderstand his words. Also, he wants to concentrate solely on
his team, Wigan, and put to one side all the rumours about his
transfer.'
Wigan are already battling to keep striker Emile Heskey, who has
been confirmed as a nonstarter for Friday's FA Cup third round tie
at Tottenham with a hamstring injury.
If they decide to sell Valencia, manager Steve Bruce would be
almost certain to move for Pennant. The former Arsenal winger could
have joined Wigan or Stoke in the summer but was unable to agree
personal terms, as was the case when new Madrid coach Juande Ramos
shocked the football world last week by trying to buy a player who
has only three Barclays Premier League appearances for Liverpool
this season.
However, Pennant yesterday broke his silence over one of the
most unexpected transfer stories of this or any other season and
expressed his interest in a move to La Liga.
'I know Real Madrid made an offer for me,' said Pennant. 'Real
Madrid are a great club, as are Liverpool, but I'm not sure of the
situation now. I'm flattered that a club as huge as Real has shown
interest in me, so we will have to see.
'I just want to play regular football and one of my dreams is to
be able to do it in Spain one day. I love the way teams like
Sevilla, Barcelona, Valencia or Real play. They keep the ball and
use wingers. The technical ability of the players is huge.
'I think my style of football will suit La Liga, a competition I
follow closely on television.
