No talk of Villa replacement for Barca

Barcelona director Andoni Zubizarreta has remained coy on whether the La Liga club will seek a replacement for injured striker David Villa.

The 30-year-old attacker was stretchered off during the first half of his side’s 4-0 thrashing of Al Sadd in the Club World Cup on Thursday, after taking a knock as he bid to get on the end of a ball in the penalty area.

A scan at a local hospital in Yokohama revealed that the striker has fractured the tibia bone of his left leg – an injury which usually takes six months to heal.

Such scenario would see Villa miss the rest of Barcelona’s campaign and has put his Euro 2012 tournament with Spain in doubt, but Zubizarreta dismissed talks about replacements for the former Valencia star.

“We will wait for what the doctors have to say,” he told AS. “Further medical tests will have to be made to know his recovery time.”

“Replacement for Villa? The most important thing now is the player’s health, everything else comes after.”

The Spain international, who moved to Camp Nou in 2010, has scored nine goals in all competitions this season.

Zubizarreta went on to praise Brazilian Serie A club Santos, who Barcelona are set to tackle in the Club World Cup final on Sunday.

“This is the final everyone expected,” he said. “We will recover physically and from the blow which was Villa’s injury, and then we will prepare for the match.”

“Santos play with joy, they have a lot of talent. They have Neymar, but also many other talented players.”