Antonio Valencia's agent claims he has not had any contact with Real Madrid but admits the Wigan Athletic winger would jump at the chance to secure a move to El Santiago Bernabeu. Speculation has been rife that the Spanish champions are set to table a ?17 million (Dh87.5m) bid for Valencia, with reports suggesting they have already opened discussions with Wigan regarding the player's transfer. Diego Herrera remained coy about his client's future but hinted the Ecuador international could be off as early as next week.
"It would be a dream for Antonio to move to Real Madrid: a very beautiful opportunity," he told AS. "But until there is something official I don't want to say anything. "They haven't said anything to me. "When there is an official announcement from someone with authority at Madrid, called (Predrag) Mijatovic [sporting director] or (Carlos) Bucero [sporting director assistant], telling us of an offer, then we will talk. "I have understood that Madrid want to close the signing that they are chasing during the first week of January. "We will see what will happen in the next few days."
Real Madrid have already made two signings ahead of the January transfer window, bringing in Lassana Diarra and Klaas Jan Huntelaar from Portsmouth and Ajax respectively. However, the club are currently at loggerheads with Uefa over the regulation that states that only one player who has already played in Europe this season can be registered for the Champions League. Diarra and Huntelaar were both involved in the Uefa Cup with their former clubs. The signing of Valencia would pose no such problems. Herrera's colleague insists the 23-year-old is only focusing on Wigan at the moment, although he too revealed there would be concrete news shortly.
"Next week it will be known if Antonio will finally become a Real Madrid player," Pedro Romero said. "Valencia doesn't want to say anything because people could misunderstand his words. "Moreover, he wants to concentrate solely on his team, Wigan, and put to one side all the rumours about his transfer." Valencia moved to Wigan initially on a season-long loan deal in 2006, which was then extended into the following season before the Premier League club shelled out an undisclosed fee for the former Villarreal player.
*PA Sport