Villarreal sports chief Jose Manuel Llaneza has revealed they almost signed Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes - and not Pepe Reina - as part of a deal that took Julio Belletti to the Nou Camp.
"Of Pepe, I will say that we almost signed Victor Valdés, but then Van Gaal arrived at Barcelona and said that the one who could leave was Reina, which delighted Victor Muñoz, our trainer back then, as he considered Pepe the better prospect.
"We gave up something in the transfer of Belletti and we contracted Reina.
"We fought to retain him, but the offer Liverpool was too great. We must be careful with the transfer market, our capacity to make mistakes must be smaller than the big clubs like Madrid or Barcelona."
