Villa to Real “a matter of time”, says Perez

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez on Thursday declared that the transfer of Valencia’s Spanish international striker David Villa to the nine-time European champions was “a matter of time”.

Real are hoping to secure Villa’s capture for a fee in the region of 40 million euros, having already this month paid 65million to take Brazil playmaker Kaka from AC Milan and a world record 93million to prise Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.

Speaking to Valencia-based local television station Canal 9, Perez expressed optimism over the transfer of Villa, who was the top scorer at last year’s European Championship and who has expressed a desire to move to Madrid.

The transfer would happen “in a context of friendship and co-operation” between Real and Valencia, according to Perez, who stated that the completion of the deal was “a matter of time”.

Valencia for their part recently announced that they had received “no satisfactory offers” for their star player, reportedly sparking interest from a host of European heavyweights including Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester United.

According to Spanish media, Valencia are holding out for 50million euros for the 27-year-old Villa, Real having previously offered closer to 40million.

Perez also said that Real would not be able to propose a fee similar in size to those which are set to bring Kaka and Ronaldo, the last two winners of the European Footballer of the Year award, to the Bernabeu.

Villa is currently in South Africa for the Confederations Cup with Spain but has previously declared that the only team he wishes to join is Real.