Manchester United's fanbase is regarded as one of, if not the biggest, in the world and their new goalkeeper Victor Valdes has swiftly gained an insight into how many people support the club across the globe.

The former Barcelona stopper has gained an incredible 145,000 extra Twitter followers upon arriving at Old Trafford on an 18-month contract, taking his overall following up to 3.92 million.

Of all the January transfer moves, Valdes comfortably enjoyed the biggest spike in activity according to Twitter statistics, although Juan Cuadrado's following on the social media sight has already grown by 100,000 to 1.56 million after his transfer was confirmed on Monday.

Victor Valdes has gained an extra 145,000 followers on Twitter after he signed for Manchester United

But Arsenal were the most discussed Premier League team throughout the transfer window

Arsenal, who signed Gabriel Paulista, were the most discussed team throughout the January window

Lukas Podolski's loan move from Arsenal to Inter Milan saw the World Cup winner's number of followers swell to 2.44 million, the third highest increase during the January window.

It was almost twice as many as new team-mate Xherdan Shaqiri, who joined Inter on loan from Bayern Munich but had an increase of 52,000.

Real Madrid's new attacking midfielder Lucas Silva, who signed from Cruzeiro, had a spike of 55,000.

But while United's considerable fanbase flexed its power to get behind Valdes, the club were not the most discussed Premier League side throughout January.

Instead, it was Arsenal who sparked the most Twitter talk, despite tying up their business with the arrival of defender Gabriel Paulista from Villarreal on January 28, five days before the window was closed.

United were second with Chelsea third.

Liverpool passed up the opportunity to sign any reinforcements but were still the fourth most talked about English side, ahead of Premier League champions Manchester City who purchased Wilfried Bony from Swansea for a reported £28million.

The month-long speculation surrounding Colombia international Cuadrado's switch to Stamford Bridge made the transfer the most discussed on Twitter while the window was open.

The midfielder's move received a bigger volume of tweets than Martin Odegaard choosing to join Real Madrid, Valdes signing for United and Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard signing an agreement to join LA Galaxy once his contract expires at Anfield.

Lukas Podolski (right) has 95,000 more Twitter followers after moving to Inter Milan on loan from Arsenal

Juan Cuadrado's move to Chelsea from Fiorentina was the deal that caused the most Twitter discussion

Cuadrado's move sparked more tweets than Martin Odegaard signing for Real Madrid and Valdes' United deal

Silva's Madrid switch was the fifth highest, above Paulista in sixth and Bony's transfer in seventh,

Podolski's move to Italy was the eighth highest while the departure of Samuel Eto'o from Everton to Sampdoria after only five months at Goodison Park was ninth.

Switzerland international Shaqiri, who reportedly chose to join Inter ahead of Liverpool, completes the top 10 of most discussed switches.



