Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool haven’t stumped up cash for Villa… yet

Reports from Spain this morning claim that David Villa’s transfer from Barcelona isn’t turning out to be as simple as originally expected. Despite the club being open to offers for some time, progress with his transfer has stalled when time has come for definitive action.

As yet Barcelona doesn’t have a formal offer for the player. Many clubs have shown an interest in the striker and may have even discussed figures, but agreement still hasn’t been reached.

Tottenham and Fiorentina are the two clubs that have shown the most interest in the player, and there has also been contact with Arsenal, Liverpool and Atlético de Madrid, but as yet, nobody has made any firm moves to sign him.

Barcelona were hoping to get €15 million, but with having just one year left on his contract, all those interested have even failed to offer the minimum €10 million that would be needed to pay off the resulting share of his €40 million purchase from Valencia three years ago.

Another factor making his transfer more complicated is his contract. Villa has earned €7 million a year for his time at the club so far. However, for this last year of his contract his salary will increase to €11 million. This is a sum that will be difficult for possible buyers to meet.

Towards the end of last season, Andre Villas-Boas confirmed that Villa was a player the club were interested in signing.

“He is one of the world’s best strikers,” he said. “What comes out of speculation at this time at Tottenham is very surreal because you know the club is very active in the last weeks of the transfer window, so you can see that speculation is growing – but at the moment we are focused on trying to get fourth spot.”

In the January transfer window, Arsene Wenger confirmed that they had been trying to sign the striker but Barcelona insisted he wasn’t for sale… yet.