Barcelona sign Valencia's David Villa for £34.2m

Barcelona have signed Valencia's David Villa in the first major transfer of the summer. The Spain striker has cost the Catalan club £34.2 million and will move to the Nou Camp after months of speculation over his future.

Villa, Valencia's top scorer in La Liga with 21 goals, will sign for four years and will be paid €7 million-a-season according to Catalan sports daily Mundo Deportivo.

He had been coveted last year by both Barca and Real Madrid, but Barcelona picked up the services of Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Inter Milan in a £40 million deal which saw Samuel Eto'o move the other way. Real opted to sign Karim Benzema instead.

A statement on Barcelona's official website read: ''FC Barcelona and Valencia CF closed a 40 million euro deal for Spanish striker David Villa on Wednesday morning.

''The Spanish international is due in Barcelona on Thursday evening and will have a medical on Friday morning. Villa will be officially unveiled as a Barca player at 1330 in the Paris Room of the Camp Nou. He'll then make an appearance on the Camp Nou pitch. The stadium doors will be opened to the public.''

Once the medical is completed he will join up with fellow Spain internationals Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Pedro and Sergio Busquets, all of whom are in the World Cup squad.

by soccernet.com