Chelsea put a spanner in the works over David Villa
By dixon9
June 15 2009
Chelsea have put a spanner in the works of Real Madrid and Barcelona over the future destination of Valencia forward David Villa. A much superior bid for the player has been tabled - potentially making any deal for Villa with Real Madrid or Barcelona almost impossible.
According to Spain’s Cadena Sur, Real Madrid reached an agreement with the player on the 14th May for 5 seasons at 6 million euros per year – less than what Villa really wanted but his sporting ambitions helped him accept the deal.
Then just 4 days ago, the final stage of the transfer was apparently completed with Perez reaching a verbal agreement with Valencia’s Manuel Llorente for Villa – 25 million euros + Real Madrid player Negredo. Cadena Sur claim Llorente originally wanted 30 million euros but was prepared to accept the inclusion of Negredo to make up the 5 million shortfall.
The Spanish media were full of “Real Madrid land another galatico” stories, the English media followed and all concluded that the deal was done. Then suddenly Llorente pulled out of the gentleman’s agreement with Perez – he wanted the 30 million + Negredo. Perez was livid according to Cadena Sur and pulled out of the deal.
It appears that Villa’s agent, Juan Luis Tamargo had stirred the pot somewhat. During an interview with Ser Deportivos, Tamargo said that 35 million euros + Negredo would, if he were a fan, be an acceptable offer.
Barcelona stepped into the fray and it was thought that the Catalans would have no problem with the economic pretensions of Valencia nor Villa. Further, there was a degree of perverted pleasure for Barcelona President Joan Laporta in pinching Real Madrid’s target (Laporta had earlier called Perez’s galatico policy "obscene" and "pretentious").
Then a huge spanner was thrown into the works. Chelsea tossed a 50 million euro offer into the ring – blowing any deal with Barcelona and any quick return to negotiations by Perez for Villa out of the water.
Chelsea know that Villa’s family prefer to stay in Spain rather than move to England, but now Valencia, with their substantial financial problems, are trying to convince Villa to move to Stamford Bridge.
To ensure that your rivals pay absolute top dollar (or perhaps nowadays we should say “top euro”?) for a mutual target is a common tactic that has been going on during player transfers since the days of flat caps and pints of bitter.
The wishes of the player may force Valencia to return to negotiations with Perez or Laporta…or if pride overcomes financial necessity then Villa could end up staying exactly where he is – something that Chelsea could have wanted all along if they couldn’t have him.
The obvious alternative is that Villa DOES end up at Stamford Bridge – something also entirely desirable for Chelsea - but then a player with an unhappy family to go home to is not a healthy mixture – and then who could be the one with a spanner in its works?
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"We have been negotiating [with Valencia for Villa] over the last week and there have been disagreements," Valdano said. "At first it was a question of money, then a player [to be included] and that meant that the value got inflated. What seemed to be on the right tracks ended up going wrong. Someone else must have become involved because we do not know why the price has risen so much."
He added: "If I was Valencia and Barcelona were offering €50m plus Bojan [Krkic] and [Martín] Cáceres I would sell, because we will not get to that figure – not even at a push."
One buyer that could offer that much is Chelsea but the west London club regarded the initial asking price as prohibitive. There is also one significant and potentially insurmountable disadvantage: Villa would prefer to stay in Spain.
"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
With Valencia currently struggling financially, it was regarded as inevitable that they would be forced to part with at least one of their more saleable assets.
Villa was expected to be the player sacrificed, but the striker's representative now claims that Los Che have decided against verifying a departure for the 27-year-old.
"Valencia have changed their minds and they are telling us they don't want to sell the player, as everyone knows, having talked with three or four top clubs," Jose Luis Tamargo was quoted as saying in the Spanish media.
"They have put us through a situation that is, sadly, very unpleasant because this is no good for anyone."
"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.