Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have both enquired after the Valencia midfielder David Albelda, the Spain international has revealed. The 30-year-old former Valencia captain who has been made an outcast at the club by manager Ronald Koeman – forced to train alone and told he will not be picked for the first team again – has admitted he wants to play in London and thanked Chelsea and Spurs for their interest.He said: "I am very attracted to playing in England and especially if the club was in London. I am grateful to Chelsea and Spurs for their interest but I cannot negotiate until I have sorted out my departure from Valencia."
Albelda, who has 46 caps for Spain, is taking legal action over the club's treatment of him and turned up for training at the weekend with his lawyer. "I've been judged for secondary matters not for sporting ones," he said. "I've gone to the courts because the club has said my situation is normal. They don't want to change things because they know Euro 2008 is round the corner and they think I will leave without asking for everything they owe me," he added.
"I am suing the people who have tried to humiliate me without good reason or explication. I want the money to come out of the pocket of the president Juan Soler, not the club."
Albelda has been a regular in the Spain squad but the national coach Luis Aragones has told him he will lose his place if he is not playing first-team football. Albelda, goalkeeper Santiago Canizares and winger Miguel Angel Angulo were dropped last month by Koeman and told they would not play for Valencia again this season.
"I'm still waiting for an explanation, for someone to say something," Albelda said. "I can assure you that I've never had any argument or incident with Koeman or the president, but one day I was playing and the next day I was out.
"It's a very difficult situation to be working apart from the rest of the squad and to be marginalised more and more without having any contact with your team-mates. It couldn't be worse."