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Man City in talks with Valencia over Villa

  • Story Highlights
  • Valencia confirm they have held talks with Man City over sale of David Villa
  • Spain international striker Villa is a target for a number of top European clubs
  • Cash-strapped Valencia also set to invite offers for fellow Spain star David Silva
  • City beat Aalborg 2-0 in first leg of UEFA Cup last 16 on Thursday night
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(CNN) -- Manchester City beat Aalborg of Denmark 2-0 in their UEFA Cup last 16 first leg tie after it's revealed that the Premier League side are in talks to sign striker David Villa from Valencia.

Villa's goals have kept Valencia in the upper reaches of the Spanish Primera.

Villa's goals have kept Valencia in the upper reaches of the Spanish Primera.

The build-up to Thursday's match at Eastlands had been dominated by the revelation that Spanish international Villa was the latest transfer target for big-spending City.

Villa, who helped his country to success at Euro 2008, is Valencia's prize asset, but the Primera Liga club are set to sell him to the highest bidder to ease their financial woes.

Several top European sides have been linked with Villa and City will perhaps need to convince him that they are set to challenge for major honors.

Victory over Aalborg and further progress in the UEFA Cup will thus be a priority for Mark Hughes' men and they made relatively light work of the visitors.

Felipe Caicedo and Shaun Wright-Phillips scored within the first 30 minutes, but they were unable to turn the dominance into further goals ahead of the away leg on March 19.

Earlier, Valencia vice-president Fernando Gomez confirmed the talks with representative from City in an interview on Spanish radio.

"Yes, it's true but they didn't make us an any offer," he said.

"The president (Vicente Soriano) asked for a significant amount and they didn't agree."

Villa and his fellow Spain star David Silva would be expected to attract massive transfer fees, but Gomez did not reveal what price tag had been placed on the pair.

"I think they are two very important players, with a lot of quality and, if we sell them, we are not going to sell them on the cheap," said Gomez.

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He added: "I would like them both to stay. But we cannot discard anything and any of them (the players) could leave at the end of the season."

The 27-year-old Villa only recently signed a new six-year contract which ties him to the Mestalla until 2014.

He has scored 21 goals in 29 games for his club this season and an impressive 25 from 42 appearances for Spain.

City, who were rebuffed in their attempt to snare Brazilian superstar Kaka from AC Milan for a mind-boggling fee in the region of $150 million, certainly have the resources to land Villa.

The Eastlands outfit were taken over by an Abu-Dhabi based investment group last summer and immediately signed Brazilian international forward Robinho from Real Madrid in an audacious move at the end of the transfer window.

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