vice president of Barcelona Rafael Yuste has admitted on Catalunya Radio that the club have held ‘open discussions’ with Valencia regarding the transfer David Villa.

The prolific hitman has been inexorably linked with a move away from Valencia since finishing top scorer at Euro 2008 last summer and, after another successful season in front of goal, both Barca and Madrid are stepping up their bids to land ‘El Guaje’.

It had been thought that an agreement had been reached between Los Che and Florentino Perez that would see the player head to Real Madrid, but now Yuste has stated that the Catalan are still in the hunt to capture the 27 year old.

“There are many players who are interested in coming to play at Barcelona and I think that people have to know this. The talks between Barcelona and Valencia are absolutely open.”

Earlier this week, World Sport had suggested that the Catalan club were readying a €35m bid for David Villa in order to capture him from underneath the noses of Real Madrid.

The article also claimed that Valencia president Manuel Llorente had chosen to suspend negotiations with Real Madrid, to allow "a level playing field for Villa to decide."

vice president of Barcelona Rafael Yuste has admitted on Catalunya Radio that the club have held ‘open discussions’ with Valencia regarding the transfer David Villa.

The prolific hitman has been inexorably linked with a move away from Valencia since finishing top scorer at Euro 2008 last summer and, after another successful season in front of goal, both Barca and Madrid are stepping up their bids to land ‘El Guaje’.

It had been thought that an agreement had been reached between Los Che and Florentino Perez that would see the player head to Real Madrid, but now Yuste has stated that the Catalan are still in the hunt to capture the 27 year old.

“There are many players who are interested in coming to play at Barcelona and I think that people have to know this. The talks between Barcelona and Valencia are absolutely open.”

Earlier this week, World Sport had suggested that the Catalan club were readying a €35m bid for David Villa in order to capture him from underneath the noses of Real Madrid.

The article also claimed that Valencia president Manuel Llorente had chosen to suspend negotiations with Real Madrid, to allow "a level playing field for Villa to decide."