Over the last few days there has been one question that has been asked by our readers more frequently than any other: "Is David Villa signing for Manchester City?."
In fact, many of you, along with several media reports, have suggested that a deal has already been struck with Valencia. As so many of you have asked me for clarification, I’ll tell you what I can at this moment in time.
David Villa's agent knows that the player is in demand and realises that he must wait and until all of the potentially interested clubs – essentially those with enough money to even consider signing a player with a €150 million buy-out clause - have made their intentions clear. We are clearly talking about a very small number of clubs that includes the likes of Chelsea, Manchester city, Milan, Real Madrid, etc. So, until all of the options are clear, Villa will not be signing for Man City and in spite of what several newspaper reports have claimed, no final decisions have been taken.
There will be meetings with the best positioned clubs over the next couple of weeks, and if a satisfactory offer is received that appeals to the player, then it will be presented to Valencia for them to decide if they want to sell or not.
I know that many of you are aware that Valencia are facing severe financial difficulties at the moment.
The circumstances at Valencia are complex, but quite simply, the club must make payments on various debts and loans by the 31st of December. The amount of money required by the end of this month exceeds €50 million and there will be more required shortly after that. And this has come to light because the club president has publicly complained that the banks have refused to loan the club €100 million in order that they may service their debts (these include monies required for work on the new stadium, wages, bonuses, interest payments on other loans and so forth).
The current president, Vicente Soriano, is threatening to resign; he has been in the job just over 4 months and is blaming the local banks for failing to back him with a loan for €100 million, while also complaining that these same banks were more than happy to support the previous regime. In reality, the club are seeking to shift the blame for their current plight upon anybody else and trying to pressurise the banks in to giving them money – bearing in mind that they already owe one of these banks €240 million. So, in a nutshell, if Valencia don’t get a loan of €100 million by the end of the year, then they are going to have to find the money elsewhere: probably by selling off some of their star assets: which of course means David Silva and David Villa.
With regard to David Silva, Real Madrid and Manchester United are both keen on the player, but at the moment there have been no talks or offers: just speculation.
And with regard to David Villa; I feel he is still very upset with Real Madrid for the way they handled a last minute attempt to sign him in the summer and he may not have forgiven them for the way that he perceives they have treated him.
However, as I said back in the summer when Villa was linked with a number of Premiership clubs, the player is not fully convinced that a move to England is the solution either.
Nevertheless, because of the dramatic situation at Valencia, this may be a time for dramatic solutions, and anything is possible. In other words, David Villa is closer to a move to the Premiership than ever before.
However, I must stress that this should not be interpreted that a move to the Premiership will definitely happen. To put it another way, David Villa has never really been close to a move to England before – in spite of reports over the last 12 months – but taking the current circumstances in Spain in to account, a move is more likely now than at any time previously.
I emphasise this caution because there have been so many visitors to this website asking for an update and posing the question - "Is David Villa signing for City?" – that I am fully aware of just how eagerly anticipated this potential move is: I am here to answer your questions, but wary of how things can be interpreted. The one thing that is certain at the moment, however, is that in spite of what may have been written elsewhere, no move to Manchester City is guaranteed at this moment in time.