Barcelona and Villa reply to transfer rumours

Asked about the new rumours linking Valencia forward and Spanish international David Villa (27) with a summer move to Barcelona (read more here), the player's agent José Luis Tamargo seemed to leave the door open in an interview with Catalan radio station Onda Cero:

"This is new for me. I don't know if this report is true or not. But Barcelona is a big club, so if they would be interested in David Villa that would be a nice thing.

I don't think he would have problems to adapt, I'm sure he would score at Barcelona. Both Barcelona, at this moment the best club in the world, and the player would benefit from a transfer. And it would be amazing to see him play together with Messi. I think they're two compatible players, with Messi creating things from the wing and Villa being a killer in the box.

But Villa now is a Valencia player, a club which he owes a lot. He's very happy there and is only thinking about the next game. He has a contract until 2014, with a buyout clause of 150 million euro°, although he could probably leave for less. Last summer he was close to Real Madrid. That deal didn't went through because of a difference of 5 million euro. The clubs couldn't sort it out, it wasn't to be."

In an interview with Valencia regional television channel Canal 9 Tamargo nevertheless clearly denied the rumours: "Until this day, I'm not in contact with any club. Villa wil stay at Valencia." Villa himself reacted ironically to journalists: "The report doesn't say when I will join Barcelona, right?"

Valencia first vice-president Migual Zorío rejected the option of a transfer when speaking to journalists: "If we didn't sell Villa and Silva when we had no cash at all last summer, we're certainly not gonna do it when we're on the verge of signing a few deals that will provide us some money."

Asked about the rumours, Barcelona manager Josep Guardiola denied a deal with Villa at a press conference: "Like I already said recently, I didn't yet speak with the sports department about the incoming and outgooing transfer for next season. I would advice the press to check their stories before they publish them."

Barcelona sports director Txiki Begiristain said to journalists that there's no truth in the story: "I deny to have been in contact with the player. We didn't even talk within the club about an interest for the player. At this moment, the sports department is working hard to prepare next season and the following one.

We're now analyzing the squad to see which are the weak points. We'll talk about it with the coach, I'm sure he knows the weak points. But I can assure you that we're still not going after concrete players. Only later on we will start looking for players, but I insist that there's nothing going on at this moment."

Read more:
Villa prefers Barcelona
Barcelona considers buying top striker
Verbal agreement with Villa