by aCe' » Mon Jul 20, 2009 7:05 am
United Prepared to Swoop for Frustrated Villa
David Villa`s dream of signing for either Real Madrid or Barcelona appears to be slipping away from him. Madrid`s pursuit of the Valencia forward effectively came to an end with the signing of Karim Benzema, while Barcelona are edging closer to sealing a deal with Inter Milan for Ibrahimovic in a deal that could see Samuel Eto`o move in the opposite direction, if the Cameroon striker agrees to the switch.
Villa had come close to obtaining his dream move to one of Spain`s big two clubs, but despite the best efforts of the player and his suitors, a move has thus far failed to materialise.
Real Madrid had been very close to an agreement, after offering €43 million plus Negredo to Valencia but, after it had appeared they were prepared to sell the player for a similar fee, but ongoing institutional crisis at the Mestalla never fails to surprise - and the new board in charge of the debt laden club turned down the offer.
On Friday, Barcelona felt they were close to agreeing a deal with Valencia, but their €45 million verbal offer was subsequently rejected.
Villa had even offered to reduce his personal terms in order to give Barcelona greater bargaining power, but that was still not enough to persuade Valencia to release the player. Consequently Joan Laporta decided to follow up on a conversation he had first held 2 weeks previously with Inter`s Massimo Moratti, and the Barcelona president travelled to Milan on Friday to seal an agreement with the Italian club for Ibrahimovic. Alexander Hleb, a target for Everton, could also be included in the package on a loan agreement.
David Villa was unaware of Barcelona`s agreement with Ibrahimovic - as were the Spanish international`s representatives - and his discovery, on Saturday morning, that Barcelona had effectively abandoned their pursuit of him has left him distraught.
Manchester United have been following the situation very closely and they have told Villa`s representatives that, in the next day or so, they will make an offer that they feel will be well received by both Valencia and the player. In order to satisfy Valencia, that would mean United are prepared to offer the Spanish club around €45 million, plus a salary package in the region of €8 million a year to the player.
David Villa has always insisted that he would like to remain in Spain and that he does not want to move abroad, that is, until now. However, for the second consecutive season, the player has seen his dream to move to one of the two top Spanish teams end in frustration, and it is plausible that his increasing frustration at his current situation could prompt him to abandon Spain and drive him toward the Premier League and into the hands of Manchester United.
Villa`s representatives have been told that Sir Alex Ferguson`s comments that United have ended their summer spending is nothing more than an attempt to avoid becoming distracted by a summer of speculation and is a strategy for dealing with an increasingly volatile transfer market - and that if the United manager is presented with an opportunity to sign a player of David Villa`s calibre, then he has both the resources and the desire to do so.
