*Chelsea rush to beat Man City for £40m David Villa as Valencia chief quits amid cash crisis
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Chelsea have reportedly made a £40million offer for Valencia striker David Villa in an attempt to see off competition from Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Skipper John Terry has urged the club to go for Spain's star of Euro 2008 and Frank Lampard yesterday called on the club to sign a creative striker who can work with Didier Drogba or Nicolas Anelka.*
Stamford Bridge owner Roman Abramovich is also understood to be a fan and reports in Spain say the club have made their move following the resignation of Valencia president Vicente Soriano last night.
Madrid president Florentino Perez this week indicated he was interested in both Villa and Atletico Madrid striker Diego Forlan, the former Manchester United striker who has just won Europe's Golden Boot.
But Madrid are understood to have told Valencia they will not go above £32m for 27-year-old Villa as this is the value of Forlan's release clause.
Chelsea apparent offer is therefore a statement of intent, though they may have trouble convincing him to leave Spain with Bernabeu sources are convinced he will be joining them next season.
The west London club have already missed out to Madrid for the signing of AC Milan star Kaka, who will be confirmed as the Spanish side's player next week.
The signing of Villa is understood to have been approved by new Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti and director of youth development Frank Arnesen.
Bus&Soccer l0v3r (VO3x 1)
OLE
City u dead.
limpper
lol chelsea scare till like that arh
Poolman
Chelsea 40 million pounds small change ..... certainly will save Valencia for the time being .
marcteng
what if he cant adapt to BPL and become a flop like shevchenko?