Barca reject Chelsea's Villa bid

Chelsea have reportedly had a £27million bid rejected for Barcelona and Spain striker David Villa.

According to The Daily Mirror newspaper, the reigning European and Spanish champions revealed the audacious bid to the Catalan media.
The English giants are believed to have made contact with Barcelona sporting director Andobni Zubizarreta last week and tabled an offer for the Spanish international.
The offer was promptly rebuffed by the club, who warned the Blues that Villa's buy-out clause stands at a staggering £178million and it will be a waste of time negotiating.
It remains a mystery whether the bid was made by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich or manager Andre Villas-Boas, who was appointed as their new manager last week.
But one thing is for sure, a Villa-Fernando Torres partnership is one to relish by Chelsea fans and will strike fear down the spine of all defences.
Meanwhile, the Blues have not given up on their pursuit of highly-rated Udinese playmaker Alexis Sanchez, who is likely to join Barcelona despite the club owner claiming Manchester City are leading the chase.
The Chilean international himself has ruled out a move to England as the prospect of playing alongside Lionel Messi is too great to turn down.