Liverpool Transfer News: Brendan Rodgers Wrong to Snub Victor Valdes Signing

It would be unfair to lump Liverpool No. 1 Simon Mignolet with too heavy a responsibility for the club's slump of late, but to ignore the prospect of Victor Valdes' acquisition this winter is an odd decision for the Reds.

Speaking to Spanish newspaper AS this week (h/t The Telegraph's Chris Bascombe), Brendan Rodgers was asked whether he'd be signing any Spanish players in the near future, to which he responded with a short and sweet "no."

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Valdes has been a free agent since leaving Barcelona at the end of the 2013-14 campaign, but injury late in that season has seen his chances of acquiring a new contract become stunted.

Over the weekend, This Is Anfield reported that not only was the Spaniard keen to join Rodgers' revolution, but he would also take a cut in salary in order to do so:

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Exclusive - Valdes “eager” to join Reds and prepared to take pay cut: http://t.co/4OEQkzsOWc pic.twitter.com/v6UcKgFgpK

— This Is Anfield (@thisisanfield) October 18, 2014"

It's become a fashion among elite clubs to have two elite-choice stoppers. Chelsea have Petr Cech in backup to Thibaut Courtois, Manchester City juggle Joe Hart and Willy Caballero, while Real Madrid have Iker Casillas and Costa Rican guardian Keylor Navas, just to name a few examples.

As aforementioned, Mignolet isn't solely to blame for the Reds' disappointing record of just one Premier League clean sheet this term. However, Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher did hold reservations over the Belgian's quality following September's 1-1 draw against Everton:

At present, Brad Jones sits as reserve to Mignolet, by no means the most inspiring of alternative options coming from the bench, one which Valdes undoubtedly beats.

And Reds fans need not give up hope of signing Valdes just yet, either, as the Mirror's Ed Malyon rightly points out Rodgers' staunch proclamation of not signing Mario Balotelli this past summer before the Italian joined up:

The fact that Spanish international Valdes would be available for free is yet more reason to invest. Not only would the 32-year-old be a solid back-up, but he could very well take Mignolet's starting berth as his own.

In his final Camp Nou season, he made an average of three saves per goal and 2.31 saves per game, per Squawka, while this campaign has Mignolet averaging just 1.42 saves per goal and 2.13 saves per game.

Player	League Apps.	Clean Sheets	Avg. Saves per Goal	Avg/ Saves per Game
Victor Valdes	26	13	3.00	2.31
Simon Mignolet	38	10	1.70	1.97

Granted, goalkeeper statistics make for a more difficult argument due to the differences in defences playing in front of them, but one would struggle to find a more promising option in free agency.

Currently in fifth and with all areas of their squad in some state of disarray, Liverpool need every boost they can get. For Rodgers to effectively rule out the Valdes deal seems a strange glazing over of what could be an extremely efficient pickup.