Barcelona to reinvest Villa wages in youth players

Club vice-president Javier Faus believes the sale of the striker this summer to Atletico Madrid came at the right time in order to free up funding for La Masia

Barcelona have committed to investing money from the sale of David Villa to Atletico Madrid this summer in the latest young stars at the club.

The Spain international joined Atletico for a transfer fee potentially rising to €5.1m, but club vice-president Javier Faus believes the funds saved by removing Villa from the wage bill with a year left to run on his contract will prove fruitful for the latest crop of talent from la Masia.

"We’ll earn €2.5 million, or €5m if he completes his three-year contract. We lost €8.3m, but from an economic point of view we don’t get too worked up about signing costs, because the real issue at the club are the wages, which are a fixed cost," Faus stated at a press conference.

"Villa was a player who commanded a high salary, and his income increased every year; that’s something that can’t be avoided. 

"We’ll potentially bring in €5m and we can use that money to spend on promising young players. In January Villa could have talked to other clubs and Barca wouldn’t have seen a penny. It’s been a good bit of business."

The 31-year-old joined Barcelona in 2010 in a €40m move from Valencia, netting 33 goals in 77 La Liga appearances during his time at Camp Nou.