Kluivert confident Valencia move will go through

Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert is confident that he will finally end up joining Valencia even though the move to the Spanish club was put on hold because of doubts over the state of his one of his knees.

Valencia said that an initial medical examination had revealed a problem in the player's left knee and that they would need 15 to 20 days to carry out more tests in to order to decide whether the move could go ahead.

The club said Kluivert had undergone arthroscopic surgery at the end of the season and that the after-effects of the operation meant they were unable to assess his knee.

But the 28-year-old, who was due to sign a three-year deal with the club after being released by Newcastle last week said he was certain that the deal would go through.

"I know that it's nothing serious and that when I return it will be all sorted out," he was quoted as saying by sports daily Marca.

"During the season at Newcastle I was suffering from some pain. I could play, but three days after the league finished I was operated on. A lot of players have this sort of thing done at the end of the season and it is only to clean up the knee.

"I want to come back and I'm very keen on the move. I still want to play football and I can do that in Valencia. I've spoken to the people at Valencia and we've got an agreement and when I come back it will all be fine."

Japan's Shunsuke Nakamura said yesterday he wanted to move to Spain after his Italian club Reggina received offers from two clubs. Atletico Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna have both made offers for the 26-year-old midfielder and he could leave Italy by the end of the month. "It would be interesting to play in both Italy and Spain," Nakamura said. "It's important to be able to play so I will need to choose carefully."