Atletico Madrid sign Tottenham target David Villa for £4.4m

By on July 8, 2013

Barcelona have confirmed that Atletico Madrid have won the race to sign Tottenham Hotspur target David Villa in a deal worth £4.4 million. Neymar’s £20m arrival from Brazil meant Villa had to move on, with Premier League club Tottenham among those interested in the forward.

Spurs’ reportedly made a “ridiculous bid” for the Spanish front-man, who was also linked with Manchester United. But, subject to a medical, Atletico look set to fill the void Falcao made when he joined Monaco with a good piece of business to capture the signature of Villa. Barcelona revealed the move on their official website, confirming that they will also pocket 50% of any future transfer Villa could make away from the Vincent Calderon.

A statement read: “FC Barcelona and Atletico de Madrid have reached an agreement in principle for the transfer of the player David Villa to the Madrid club.

“The operation will cost a maximum of 5.1 million euros (£4million), made up of 2.1 million euros this season, two million more if the player remains at Atletico in 2014/15 and another million if he extends his contract until 2015/16.

“In the meantime Barcelona retain the rights to 50 percent of any future transfer of the player.”

Villa, who is Spain’s all-time leading goalscorer having scored 56 goals in 92 appearances for La Roja, will leave the Nou Camp after moving there for €40 million from Valencia in 2010. Although having successful start to his Barca career, scoring 23 goals in his first season at the club, Villa’s next two seasons in Spain were marred with injuries that saw the 31-year-old miss over eight months of football. Only recovering late last season, Villa would have been dropped further down the totem poll at the Catalans as Neymar arrived from Brazil if he had stayed in Barcelona.

But Atleti swooped down to sign the forward in a move that will have made the club cool their interest in Alvaro Negredo, boosting the possibility of a switch to Manchester City for the Sevilla man.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.