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Barcelona have
moved swiftly to reinforce their squad, snapping up Spain striker David
Villa from Valencia for 40 million euros on Wednesday, three days after
winning a second consecutive La Liga title.

After a Valencia
board meeting, President Manuel Llorente said they had accepted Barca’s
offer for the prized striker, who scored 21 league goals last season to
finish his fifth consecutive campaign as the club’s top scorer.

“There was a big
offer from England that was not from Chelsea but Barcelona’s was the
best for us and the footballer,” Llorente told a news conference at the
Mestalla, without specifying which Premier League club had made a bid.

“Villa has delivered a lot (to Valencia) and he deserves this chance,” he added.

The 28-year-old is
Spain’s second-highest scorer with 36 goals from 55 matches, eight
short of the record held by Real Madrid striker, Raul, and he will be
spearheading Spain’s World Cup campaign in South Africa next month.

Barcelona confirmed
the deal in a statement on their web site (www.fcbarcelona.com), saying
Villa would sign a four-year contract with an option for one more year.

The player, who
Barca said “guaranteed goals”, will travel to the Catalan capital on
Thursday and will take a medical before being presented on Friday at
1130 GMT.

Nicknamed “el
guaje” (the kid), Villa will join a formidable Barca forward line that
already includes La Liga’s leading marksman Lionel Messi, Swede Zlatan
Ibrahimovic, and Spaniards Pedro and Bojan Krkic.

France striker Thierry Henry spent most of last season on the bench and is expected to move on.

Responsible decisions

Barca sporting
director, Txiki Begiristain, told the club’s TV channel on Wednesday,
Villa was a similar player to Messi in that he could play as a centre
forward or drift in from the right wing into goal-scoring positions.

“He has the profile of a player who makes very good diagonal runs and moves very well into space,” Begiristain said.

Valencia have been
forced into the sale by the precarious nature of their finances. They
are burdened with debts of more than 500 million euros. They have a
half-built new stadium, and have yet to sell their current one, the
Mestalla.

“The board’s
principle objective is to make sure we have economic viability for the
future,” Llorente said, adding that he did not rule out further sales.

“We are obliged to
take responsible decisions. Considering our situation, it is
responsible to sell this player. As everyone knows we could have done
this deal last year but we thought at that moment it was best to keep
our squad together to try and get into the Champions League.”

“We have achieved that aim and finished third in the league, and he
has contributed a lot towards this. We think it is good sale and
necessary for the economic situation of the club,” he added.