Madrid - Spanish league leaders Barcelona are poised to extend and improve the contract of goalkeeper Victor Valdes, the Catalan daily Sport reported on Tuesday.

In the past fortnight, Barca have improved the contracts of Euro 2008 top player Xaxi and of youngster Sergio Busquets.

Now comes the turn of Valdes, who is in excellent form at the moment, as Real Madrid discovered in Saturday's 2-0 defeat.

Valdes, 26, has conceded only nine goals in 15 Liga games this season, one of the best goalkeeping record in Europe's major leagues.

His present contract expires in 2010, and Barca want to extend it until 2014. There have already been several meetings between his father, Jose Manuel Valdes, who also acts as his agent, and Barca technical secretary Txiki Begiristain.

Valdes entered the Barca youth sections at the age of 10, and made his first-team debut in 2002 under Louis Van Gaal.

He has been the undisputed first-choice keeper since 2003 and has already played 280 games for the Catalan giants.

Valdes is not popular with the Barca fans, but he has turned out to be the club's most reliable keeper since 1990s hero Andoni Zubizarreta. (dpa)