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Where to start?

How about with the trophies: Six La Liga titles, three Champions Leagues, Super Cups, World Club Cups, domestic cups.

And then there's the small matter of the World Cup. And the European Championships.

Almost 400 appearances for Barcelona, 20 caps for Spain and individual accolades such as the Liga Goalkeeper of the Year (three times) to cap it off.

Pedigree? He gives a new meaning to the word.

Yet his career, bristling with achievements, medals and highlights, has hit the brakes somewhat in previous years.

Valdes signed for Manchester United expecting to go on and become the club's No.1. Two appearances and a loan stint to Standard Liege tells you all you need to know about his disastrous spell at Old Trafford.

That's why, despite his incredible back-catalogue of medals and successes and his undoubted class, Valdes may well arrive at Boro with a point to prove.

We take a closer look at Boro's latest recruit.

(Image: MFC)

He's an author as well as a keeper

Need help overcoming pressure and reaching your goals in life? Then Victor Valdes is the man for you.

Written entirely by Valdes, his book #METODOV (#THEVMETHOD) was published during his time at Barcelona and offers readers an eight-step method to achieving their targets.

Those steps are based on the keeper's own experiences, which helped him to face his fears and overcome obstacles, apparently.

One of which was playing in goal.

Yep, seems ridiculous when you consider he's one of the greatest ever goalkeepers in the history of one of the world's biggest clubs, but Valdes wasn't always comfortable between the posts.

In his book, Valdes talks about how he hated playing in goal as a kid and used to dread upcoming matches.

"I saw that when a teammate used to score, everyone went and celebrated with him, but if I let one in, everyone would criticise me. I wasn't happy. For 12 years I didn't like what I did - I hated it".

"I was the typical kid that people could see wasn't happy from a mile off. I never laughed or had fun playing football", he admits."

Quite the motivator

It's not only when he's writing a book that Valdes attempts to motivate, it's in the dressing room as well.

Before it all went belly-up at Old Trafford, Valdes made quite the impact ahead of his first ever game in a Manchester United shirt.

Selected for the Under-21s in his first game back following a serious knee injury, Valdes delivered what the young side's manager described as a "brilliant" speech before the game.

According to the BBC, Valdes asked Joyce to play a video that told the story of veteran American athlete Dick Hoyt, who contested marathons and other gruelling distance events while pushing his quadriplegic son.

"The lads are in the room listening to this," said Joyce. "It was unbelievable.

"I was going to do something but Victor said 'Guardiola used to do this'.

"He's a very humble guy and a model professional."

'Best keeper in the history of the Spanish league'

Don't take it from me, take it from the Centre for Research of Football History and Spanish Statistics.

Still with me?

Back in 2014 they did a study to determine the best goalkeeper in the history of the Spanish league, analysing stoppers playing in the country since 1928.

And Boro's new boy came out on top. Not bad when you consider the list included Iker Cassilas, Santiago Cañizares, Thibaut Courtois and Barca great Andoni Zubizarreta. The report detailed 790 players and concluded Valdes was the "ideal prototype" for a goalkeeper.

(Image: Getty Images)

Lionel Messi agreed. Back in 2013, after Valdes had received an incredible ovation from supporters inside the Camp Nou despite uncertainty over his future, Messi said: "He deserves all the applause and more.

"For me he's the best keeper in the history of this club."

There's reason behind Messi's statement. Namely, records and plenty of them.

In 2011 Valdes put his name in Barcelona's history books when he rewrote a record that had stood for almost four decades, going 896 minutes without conceding a goal in all competitions.

And according to Barcelona's club website, Valdes has the best record when it comes to average goals conceded for the club, having let just 16 past him in 32 games in the 2010/11 season.

A red card - after the full-time whistle

El Clasico games often get out of hand given all that's at stake.

And Victor Valdes joined a long list of players to have seen red in the famous contest. The quirk being his red came after the full-time whistle.

Keep your eye out at the 20-second point in this video. There's only one thing on the keeper's mind when the referee calls a halt to proceedings.

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Valdes was said to be furious that referee Miguel Angel Pérez Lasa hadn't given a penalty against Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos during Barcelona's 2-1 defeat.

The referee noted in his match report that Valdes shouted "you are shameless" as he charged towards him.

A four match ban followed.

Moving quickly on, remember last season when Boro were keeping clean sheets for the fun of it and George Friend said the defence were aware of exactly how many minutes they'd gone without conceding due to the fact Dimi Konstantopoulos had it written on his hand?

Well Valdes is prone to a hand note of his own.

"Training and training" he penned on his hand during his difficult spell at United when he was struggling for game-time.

He posted the picture on Instagram with the accompanying caption: "Mi motivation today and always".

His spell at Standard Liege

It was supposed to be the loan move to revitalise what looked to be an ailing career.

And Valdes did at least pick up even more silverware in Belgium. He helped Standard Liege to a 2-1 cup final victory over Jelle Vossen's Club Brugge.

Vossen was on the bench that day but Thomas Meunier, the full-back who were Boro were interested in earlier this summer before his switch to PSG, started at right-back.

Valdes featured regularly but Standard chose to end the loan stint early.

A statement read: "As we decided to give more playtime to the youth players at the end of the season and because they couldn't be selected for medical reasons, the Spanish goalkeeper and the Greek midfielder have decided in agreement with the club to finish their loan at the end of this week.

“Standard de Liège wants to thank Ioannis and Victor for everything they did for our club, especially during the successful campaign on the way to the Belgian Cup. We also wish them the best in the rest of their professional career.”

Next stop Boro.