Closing time on Tuesday at The Transfer Tavern saw a flurry of gossip reach the punters courtesy of Spanish daily MARCA about the future of Valencia’s David Villa.
Los Che president Manuel Llorente met with Villa’s agent Jose Luis Tamargo in Madrid on Monday to discuss the player’s future at the Mestalla following interest from both Real Madrid and Barcelona in recent weeks. However since the arrival of Karim Benzema at the Bernabeu, Barca have been running unopposed in the race for his signature.
Llorente claimed this weekend that he would only listen to offers in the region of €45 to €50 million but that he had not heard anything from the reigning European champions.
“I have never spoken with anyone about the price for Villa, only when we were in talks with Real Madrid,” he said.
Joan Laporta, Llorente’s opposite number at the Nou Camp, has said that the Catalan giants will not meet the asking price given by the Valencia chairman and said that Barca would look elsewhere if necessary for a new striker to replace the outgoing Samuel Eto’o.
“I have always said that Villa is a player that could interest us under some specific conditions, but these have not been met so we will have to activate other options that are just as valid and we will evaluate which of them can come under the conditions that are interesting to us”, he said.
What refreshment fuelled this scoop from La Liga? Does Villa’s future lie at the Mestalla or the Nou Camp? Should this rumour Fly or Die?
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