Striker joins Atletico in a criminally low priced deal.Atletico Madrid have won the race to sign Barcelona striker David Villa, according to Barcelona’s official website.
The capital based side will initially pay just €2.1 million up front, with €2 million more due if he remains with Atletico next season and a further million should he be there the season after too. Barca have also seen to it that there is a 50% sell on clause installed in his contract.
Villa had been widely linked with a move to both Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal this summer after falling out of favour at the Nou Camp and the news of this deal is likely to leave the two Premier League sides kicking themselves at not being able to agree a deal first.
The 31-year-old joined Barcelona from Valencia in the summer of 2010 and went on to score 48 goals in 119 appearances – numbers which would have been a lot higher had he not sustained a broken leg a World Club Cup match in 2011.
And in a cruel twist of fate, one of Villa’s first games with his new club could be against Barça in this summer’s Spanish Super Cup between last season’s league and cup winners.