When this offseason began, David Villa looked like one of the easiest transfers to make. Plenty of attention from the Premier League (Tottenham) and the Serie A (Fiorentina) hasn’t made Barcelona change their minds about the demands, and despite not really being a part of the future plans, nothing is moving forward at the moment.
There are problems, of course. Barcelona signed Villa in 2010 for €40 million, and would like to see a substantial part of that brought back for them. However, Villa’s contract runs out in 12 months, and it’s hard to push teams into paying €15 million for a player who’ll turn 32 in five months.
So even if Barcelona agree to lower the asking price to something a little more reasonable, like €10 million, Villa’s contract stands in the way. Villa made €7 million a season for the first three seasons at the Camp Nou, but will be making €11 million on his final year of the deal, something that both Spurs and Fiorentina aren’t willing to match.
So the question no goes to Villa himself, and how hard is he trying to push himself out of the club. Because if he wants to play plenty of football next season, staying in Barcelona is not the way to do it. However, giving up on €11 million is quite difficult to do, even if it means sitting on the bench or in the stands. Tottenham and Fiorentina can’t even give him half of that money.
There are always roads of settlement. Like Barcelona paying a certain portion of his salary if another club picks him up, but that doesn’t seem like a likely scenario at the moment. Not playing (or barely playing) in the Confederations Cup was a hit to their plans of selling him for what they initially planned for, but at the moment, they’re not planning on giving him away almost for free.