Barcelona ahead of Real Madrid in Villa battle

Barcelona are ahead of Real Madrid in the battle for Valencia hotshot David Villa.

AS says Barca have already made a formal approach to Valencia for the Spain star and knows it will take £25 million to land the forward.

Barca intend to move for Villa once they have agreed the sale of Samuel Eto'o.

Villa, for his part, would prefer a move to Real Madrid, but the defending champs are pouring their energies into convincing Manchester United to sell Cristiano Ronaldo.