Barcelona spokesman Toni Freixa has praised David Villa’s time with the Catalans, saying he was great for the club.
Villa was transferred to Atletico Madrid this week for just €5.1m and Freixa also gave his take on what appeared to be a cut-price fee for the Spanish international striker.
“David was a great player for us who won many titles and had a great time at Barcelona. We are pleased to have enjoyed him and he made a great impression on our fans, so we wish him well,”he told assembled reporters.
“With respect to his selling price anyone can give their opinion for free. The desire of the player was important so we wanted to make his departure easier.
“Barca members need to know that the club is always looking for the best solution, considering the circumstances, and taking into account his age and a certain salary we wanted to please all parties. It was a successful operation.”
Freixa was asked whether he could see a situation where Villa’s departure to Los Rojiblancos could come back to haunt Barca, given the final game of next season is against Atletico at the Camp Nou when La Blaugrana may be going for the La Liga title.
“He is great player and something like that could happen. However, there is no clause in his contract that says he can’t play against us.
“We do not insert clauses like that when one of our players goes to another team.”
Finally, he was questioned about Thiago Alcantara’s situation, the midfielder having been linked with a high-profile move to Manchester United last week.
“Thiago is a Barcelona player and, if nothing changes, he will be playing here again next season,” maintained Freixa.
