Race for £32 million Spanish star Villa hots up

The race for Valencia and Spanish striker David Villa is finally beginning to gain real momentum as Chelsea and Barcelona have expressed their interest to Valencia in the star, according to The Sun newspaper.

Valencia are now ready to listen to offers and the Spanish club are believed to have priced the striker for around £32 million.

The price has already increased from Valencia’s initial valuation of the player which was believed to be around £25 million, no doubt due to Villa’s outstanding hat-trick against Russia on Tuesday, and is likely to rise even higher should Villa score a few more at Euro 2008.

Valencia director Juan Sanchez told press: “He has a contract and is having a great Euro. We are calm and we hope he will continue to score many goals. You never know what will happen if we get offers.”

“It’s not a question of putting a price on him. What will come in the future will be assessed then.”

Barcelona and Chelsea are the only clubs to have expressed real interest, according to The Sun, however it seems as if a host of clubs are set to join the race for the Spanish star.

Barcelona will look to replace Eto’o with Villa at the Nou Camp, whilst Chelsea have been tracking Villa for a number of a months.

However, they may soon be joined by the likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool, Arsenal and possibly more.

Real Madrid have already expressed their interest, although everyone at the club seems to be currently focused on the Ronaldo transfer saga.

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is likely to express interest in pairing Villa with current Liverpool star Fernando Torres, and after watching the pair together against Russia Benitez will surely be desperate for Liverpool to lodge a bid.

Meanwhile, Arsenal and Spanish star Cesc Fabregas has made it publicly known that he would love for Villa to join him at the Emirates. Fabregas is said to be desperate for manager Arsene Wenger to launch a bid for Villa and compete for the striker.

Fabregas told press: “David is an amazing player — he has mobility, he scores goals and is brave.”

“He can dwell on the shoulder of defenders and then get in behind or he can operate just in front of them when the ball is played to his feet.”

“I would love to have him in my team at Arsenal. He’d be amazing in the English league. As you saw against Russia, he can make the difference.”

Villa, 26, nicknamed El Guaje (The Kid) for his looks, has a terrific scoring record that has attracted attention for the past few years. Villa has scored 17 in 32 games for Spain and 58 in 101 games for current club Valencia.

The striker is likely to start in a confident Spanish side that takes on Sweden on Saturday despite breaking his finger after celebrating his first of three goals against Russia.

[Source: The Sun]