
Los Merengues' grew desperate as the deadline approached and attempted
to push through a deal by contacting Los Che throughout the day,
according to the player's agent.
While Madrid president Ramón
Calderón claimed last week that he was offered Villa, it was a very
different story on Monday according to reports coming out of Mestalla.
"Real
Madrid tried 50 times to sign him," Villa's representative, José Luis
Tamargo, told Marca. "They must have tried at least that many times on
Monday to sign him."
Bernd Schuster is reported to have insisted
that the Spain international was the only player that he wanted before
the transfer window closed and that saw Calderón spring into action.
Valencia
chief, Vicente Soriano, had stated that no bid had been received before
then, but the club's sporting director, Fernando Gómez, revealed what
had really taken place.
"There was a call Calderón to Soriano
just after Villa renewed his contract, but there was no time to react
and we were not going to let the player go," he confirmed.
Villa
penned a contract extension that will keep him at Mestalla until 2014
and that was viewed as a clear snub to Madrid in their quest top prise
him away this summer.
After spending the summer chasing
Cristiano Ronaldo, Los Merengues left it late to start bidding for
other players and while Schuster became frustrated he has been unable
to do anything.
Robinho was sold in the closing hours of the
window to Manchester City for around €40m after stating that he was
desperate to leave Madrid and that has now left the German coach at the
Bernabéu short of options.