FALSE 10: The man who said goodbye and turned off the lights

"When I retire, I will disappear. I'll go somewhere no one can find me," Victor Valdes once warned the world.

It was around 2015. The custodian had left Barcelona for the first time in his professional career and the first time since 1995, when he arrived at Camp Nou as a 13-year-old boy.

He was a Manchester United player at the time and, whether because the bad and rainy weather in England - poles apart from his forever sunny and warm Spain - made him depressed or because he made only two appearances for the Red Devils, being the understudy to the young hope of Spanish and world football, David De Gea, he said what he said.

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Back then, no one took it too seriously. After all, he was a star of the most popular sport in the world.

He was in the cradle of football, at one of the most renowned clubs this game had ever had. He was a six-time champion of Spain and three-time Champions League winner with Barcelona, and a World and European champion with La Roja. Such a world-famous name couldn't vanish just like that.

Little did everyone know that Valdes' statement wasn't just something you utter in the spur of the moment, when you're annoyed, angry, or disappointed. It was a promise. And Victor has always been a man of his word.

If it wasn't one of his qualities, he wouldn't have been the first-choice custodian under Frank Rijkard and the perfectionist that is Pep Guardiola. He wouldn't have been an integral cog in that historic Barcelona's machinery, and he wouldn't have played side by side with football icons like Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o, Carles Puyol, Thierry Henry, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and many others.

After a season at Old Trafford, United loaned him to Standard Liege. Following a year in Belgium, Valdes briefly returned to England, where he was a part of Middlesbrough's crew that last played in the Premier League. The popular Boro were relegated and haven't returned to the top flight ever since, while Valdes decided to hang up the boots five months after the end of his spell at the Riverside Stadium, despite reportedly having offers from Deportivo La Coruna and Sporting Lisbon.

Valdes after his last career game, Middlesbrough vs Burnley, on April 8, 2017 (©Nigel Roddis/Getty Images)

Victor felt it was time to call it a day. On January 1, 2018, he posted a photo of a sunset on his Instagram account, accompanied by a short caption, "Thanks for everything."

At first glance, and the second as well, this "hint" was anything but clear. Where was the long soliloquy about the sadness he felt for leaving football? Where were messages of gratitude to all his former coaches, clubs, and teammates? Where was the usual farewell message we had seen so often when a legend decided to announce retirement?

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For Valdes, all of this fit into three words. And while the football world was beginning to understand what had happened and Barcelona and Co. were saying their goodbyes and thank yous, he deleted his Instagram and Twitter accounts, starting to fulfil the promise everyone had forgotten about, made a couple of years earlier.

"I don't enjoy the fame. When this all ends, I'll be with my children, teaching them about life. I hope when the lights go out it will be difficult for people to find me," he told RAC1 two years prior, giving another hint to those willing to listen. Still, no one heard it, or simply chose not to.

Valdes as Barcelona U-19 coach in 2019 (©Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Following his retirement, he mainly stayed out of football, briefly leading Barcelona's U-19 team and the Spanish fourth-tier side UA Horta, whom he left in 2021. After a four-year break, in April 2025, he took over the bench of another fourth-division team, Real Avila, but coached them in only four games.

Afterwards, he returned to the shadows. Throughout his post-playing days, no one knew anything about him. Of course, family and friends did, perhaps some former teammates and coaches, but the public - nothing.

To this day, the general public knows nothing about Valdes' retirement life: where he lives, what he does for a living... Some sources claimed he entered the media world, but behind the cameras. Who knows? Only one thing is certain: Victor Valdes doesn't want to be found.

In an interview with Michael Robinson back in 2011, he admitted to having seriously struggled between the ages of eight and 18, because he didn't want to be stuck between the posts, to be a custodian. After all, he had excellent traits of an outfield player, which later Pep Guardiola exploited to revolutionize both football and the position of a goalkeeper, with Valdes being a pioneer of this new style.

Nevertheless, after a couple of sessions with a psychologist, he changed his mind, and football got one of the first modern keepers and one of the most decorated goalies in its history.

"I still don't understand. Why did I do it if I didn't like it?" Valdes said back then via ESPN.

Iker Casillas and Victor Valdes at Spain national team's training session in June 2013 (©Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

Perhaps, he asked himself the same question near the end of his career. He wasn't fond of publicity, fame, and everything that comes with the celebrity world. So, why would he need to stay in the spotlight even after his playing days were over? He simply turned off the lights.

Throughout his career, Valdes was considered a player with a behind-the-scenes role. He did his job quietly and drew little attention. The spotlight was reserved for Barca's superstars, Ronaldinho, Messi, Xavi, and others. The goalkeeping spot on the Spain national team was reserved for the legendary Iker Casillas, thanks to whose greatness Valdes made only 20 appearances for La Roja.

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Always overshadowed and never appreciated enough, he accepted these shadows as a part of his personality and decided to remain hidden. Perhaps temporarily, perhaps forever. Who can tell?

Maybe he'll appear in a year, two, or ten, like some sort of a football Halley's Comet, just to remind us he's still there, safe and sound; to pique everyone's curiosity and then vanish again with a smile on his face.

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However, wherever he is and whatever he's doing - and we're sure he's perfectly happy alongside his wife and three children - he should know that true football fans have never and will never forget him, no matter how much he tried to keep out of sight.

Legendary Victor Valdes - the man who said goodbye and turned off the lights.