Premier League - Transfer Talk: Villa price soars

Eurosport - Mon, 16 Jun 11:55:00 2008

Property prices in this country may well be plummeting, but over on mainland Europe the credit crunch seems to be having less of an effect with some of the continent's finest still capable of reaching a fortune on the market.

FOOTBALL 2007-2008 La Liga Valencia David Villa - 0

Fans of the eminently watchable television show A Place in the Sun need no reminding how much a Spanish villa costs - at the very least seven figures - but Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez may have to pay a somewhat more for the one particularly well-appointed asset he is considering adding to his portfolio.

Following his goalscoring exploits at Euro 2008 - four in two games - the price on hitman David Villa's head has crashed through the roof.

Latest reports suggest the Valencia ace will set back Benitez somewhere in the region of £30 million, although the commander of Merseyside's Spanish armada will face competition from Barcelona , Real Madrid and Chelsea for the 26-year-old's services.

In comes as no surprise that Chelsea have been linked with Villa too - the Blues have poked their noses into almost everything so far this summer and are not about to put an end to that policy just yet.

New boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, who has been busy delighting journalists in Switzerland with an array of facial expressions that Lee Evans would be proud of, is sure to bring in some new faces, with Barcelona misfit Deco and Porto flyer Ricardo Quaresma top of his list.

Scolari clearly has no compunction about spending Roman Abramovich's millions and has also, rather modestly, set his sights on hiring the world-beating trio of Kaka, Fernando Torres and Franck Ribery before the start of the new campaign.

Newcastle winger James Milner has become a target for Liverpool, with Jermaine Pennant likely to be used as some rather unappetising bait in a bid to lure the winger to Anfield.

Indeed, it does not seem that the Reds are too serious about capturing the former England Under-21 ace, having also offered Danny Guthrie in part exchange for Milner.

Toon boss Kevin Keegan, unsurprisingly, is not interested, but would be if the £15 million price tag hanging off Peter Crouch 's neck were lowered.

Back down to the capital where Tottenham are still searching for a goalkeeper, as Paul Robinson edges closer to an exit from White Hart Lane.

Manchester City youngster Joe Hart and Lyon's Gregory Coupet are on Juande Ramos's shopping list, with deals for both players a distinct possibility - 21-year-old Ben Alnwick will be the only keeper on Spurs' books if Robinson departs.

And finally, new Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has been linked with a swoop for the most honest man in football, Lassana Diarra.

The outspoken France international has admitted he is only using Portsmouth as a springboard to bigger and better things, although quite how City can be classed a step-up from Pompey is anyone's guess. Nevertheless, Sparky has £8 million lined up to tempt the midfielder away from Fratton Park.

In other gossip, Aston Villa have slapped a £20 million price tag on Gareth Barry in an effort to ward off Liverpool, Atletico Madrid are hunting Everton midfielder Mikel Arteta, Roy Keane wants Aidan McGeady at Sunderland and Manchester United are back in for Dimitar Berbatov.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

Comment 26 - 45 of 45

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  1. spknott - you are making the dumb comments not mike hytner, pompey have better players and far better manager than man city could ever dream of having, we finished higher in the league than you last season and won the fa cup - enough said and i rest my case. you need to get a new owner before you can be taken seriously in the premier league - he has more money than sense if he is looking to pay ronaldinho £200,000 a week !!!

    From scott.richardson299, on Mon 16 Jun 7:19PM

  2. villa, barry,ribery,riera,downing,bentley and milner 2 LIVERPOOL PLZ

    From ramzisebai, on Mon 16 Jun 5:55PM

  3. MAN U SHOULD SELL RONADLO NOW AND CASH ON HIM SEEN HE SAID HE WANT TO GO. I AM A MAN U FAN BUT IT IS BEST NOW BCOS HIS PRICE TAG IS DROPPING SLOWLY FROM 100M 2 75M TO 60M NEXT IT WELL BE 50M BUT U SELL NOW AND THEY WE GIVE U PLAYERS LIKE RAMOS AND ROBINHO DAT GREAT, FEGIE SHOULD THINK ABOUT IT. DONT LET HE GO LIKE BECKHAM PLS. AS 4 VILLA D BEST CLUB 4 HIM IS LIVERPOOL NOT ARESNAL PLS DEY WE SPOIL HIS GAME BUT TORRES AND VILLA WOW, NOW DAT A TEAM. AND WAT IS LIVERPOOL MANGER PROBLEM WIT PERNANT I LUV DAT PLAYER SO MUCH AND HE IS GO TO WASTE IN LIVERPOOL SELL HIM TO MAN U HE CAN B OUR NEXT BECKHAM DAT GUY HAS A DEADLY CROSS WOW . MANU SHOULD ALSO TRY AND GET QUARESMA PEFECT REPLACEMENT 4 RONADLO EVER BETTER. MAN4LIFE

    From AZUKA O, on Mon 16 Jun 2:07PM

  4. liverpool dont need villa...torres is enough...liverpool need ribery, makalele and sionko....that will make up a perfect liverpool...

    From chuakc78, on Mon 16 Jun 10:16AM

  5. villa is same quality with torres so why need 2 big striker if rafa prefer 4-5-1 formation?may be he gets villa for 30m and then sell torres to chelsea for 50m and use the money to bring ribery to anfield and this will make liverpool stronger to mount a serious challenge for premier league next season...but that is not going to happen coz torres is a god at anfield...

    From chuakc78, on Mon 16 Jun 9:56AM

  6. I think david villa is suitable in Liverpool because he is a good partner with Fernando Torres

    From prashant4755, on Mon 16 Jun 8:30AM

  7. Spurs to keep berba and joe hart 2 come wiv robbo going to accrington stanley they need him more! david villa should stay away from arsenal as they have ruined other players careers b4 and they will do it again!!!!

    torres will stay @ liverpool kaka will stay @ AC Milan and ribery will stay @ bayern munich so ha ha chelski fans!!!!!

    big spurs fan here

    From zoeb1971, on Mon 16 Jun 6:21AM

  8. villa + fabregas would win the premiership thy hav such a gd partnership
    arsene wenger has 2 buy 4 arsenal
    villa wnts 2 be there an he would suit the team an the team would suit him
    wneger u always mke the right decision plz do it agen!!!!

    From joxley16, on Sun 15 Jun 10:37PM

  9. villa + fabregas would win the premiership thy hav such a gd partnership
    arsene wenger has 2 buy arsenal

    From joxley16, on Sun 15 Jun 10:34PM

  10. I want Milner to Liverpool FC!

    From bizzydpl, on Sun 15 Jun 10:30PM

  11. EVERYBODY SHOULD LEAVE FERNANDO TORRES ALONE!!!!!!
    HE IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!!
    HE IS STAYING WHERE HE BELONGS AND DATS IN LIVERPOOL!!!

    From boluakanbi, on Sun 15 Jun 10:28PM

  12. what a possible strike force
    torres
    villa
    premier league style
    bust the bank to get him i reckon..tho with 14/15 million from alonso
    10 for crouch 4/5 for john arne looks like good business for benitez

    i might even buy the sports package from my digital tv provider

    From r_mc_k, on Sun 15 Jun 8:58PM

  13. wenger we need villa he wants to come.And also quaresma can come wit him.arsenal fan.

    From meetnnanna, on Sun 15 Jun 8:58PM

  14. Mike Hytner / Eurosport, you are clearly an idiot! How you can question the class of Man City against Portsmouth's is beyond me! Man City are bigger and better in every sense! Yeah, Pompey won a trophy for the fisrt time in a very long time (even longer than City!). But City are traditionally bigger, have won more honours, have a fan base considerably collosus compared to PFC and will, in the future continue to stay ahead of Pompey in all aspects of relevent statistics! So Mike, I'd advise you to do your research before making such silly comments!

    From spknott, on Sun 15 Jun 8:29PM

  15. chelsea has to send away people like pizaro,cheva,paolo f, for new faces to came in.and get some good players too.

    From simone h, on Sun 15 Jun 7:17PM

  16. I personally think that david villa will move to arsenal cos he and fabregas make a xpert team and bring success(which david villa wants)I am a massive arsenal fan though and thats just my opinion,also i don't think arsenal will try to get back henry cause he is old and wenger wants young talent

    From Louis, on Sun 15 Jun 7:13PM

  17. Diarra is absolute rubbish, not even good enough for Portsmouth, (no offence intended to pompey). If he goes to a bigger club he will not get a game. I honestly can not understand what anyone sees in him, I reckon if he was British no-one would be interested. £8 million? HAHAHAHA..................We'll have him at Leeds for £500,000, thats about what he's worth and the right level of football for him.

    From d_w_hickling, on Sun 15 Jun 7:04PM

  18. The amount of money each club should be allowed to spend on new signings per annum should be capped otherwise the only team to compete in championship will be chealse

    From jpbostock, on Sun 15 Jun 7:03PM

  19. all these are rumors, dead sure Villa will sign with Arsenal b'cos he likes how Arsenal play football and he wants to play football not only become a celebrity. Just hope Arsenal joins the league of extravagant Clubs but signing players like Villa and not waste on players like Ronaldo.

    From Aj@y O, on Sun 15 Jun 6:09PM

  20. chelsea will need villa since they dont have so good offence exept drogba

    From janeta_geor, on Sun 15 Jun 5:48PM
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