Why Arsenal could get Villa from Barcelona for pittance

When Arsene Wenger was trying to find a player for Arsenal to sign in January, it was hard to find somebody available who had the right quality to improve the Arsenal team. The player he wanted was the Barcelona and Spain striker David Villa. Terms were agreed between the clubs and the striker apparently, but the Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova vetoed the transfer.

It just goes to show the arrogance of the Catalan club, that they are now demanding top transfer fees for the 31-year old, despite his injury problems and the fact that he will be available on a free transfer next summer. Well they are not going to get it, and Arsenal might be able to sign the striker for next to nothing before the end of the transfer window.

The reason for this is that a clause in Villa’s contract states that his wages are due to rise from around £115,000 a week to nearly £200,000 a week for the final year of his deal, as reported by AS. Barcelona are stocked with strikers. With Messi, Neymar, Pedro, Tello and Alexis Sanchez all fighting for a place, they now want Villa to leave.

If you were Villa, and had been denied the move you wanted in January on the whim of the manager, who then hardly played him, would you be keen to help out the club? Me neither. If Barcelona want his wages off the books, they are going to have to accept a low transfer fee. If I was Wenger, I would offer £2 million. Villa will probably accept something like his current wage, if it means he is playing at a Champions League club to keep his hopes of playing for Spain in the Rio 2014 World Cup. I think he could really add something to our title challenge.