Rumour Mill: Villa, Johnson, Masch & Dossena

We’ll begin today’s rumour round-up with the news that Valencia have decided not to sell star striker David Villa.

The Spanish forward has been consistently linked with a move to Anfield for a year now and seemed certain to depart Los Che this summer, although Real Madrid had become firm favourites to capture him.

Earlier in the week Fernando Torres had urged Rafa Benitez to sign his international strike partner but even if Villa was to leave cash-strapped Valencia the fee would likely be over £30m. Villa’s agent claims to have held negotiations with “three of the four major clubs”, whether one of those was Liverpool we’ll likely never know.

One man looking more likely to arrive at Anfield this summer is Portsmouth and England right back Glen Johnson. Reports over the last 48 hours claim Johnson will arrive back from his holiday this weekend and snub a return to Chelsea in order to complete a £17.5m move to Liverpool. Some reports suggest he will have a medical over the weekend and conclude the deal early next week.

Meanwhile, reports continue to link Javier Mascherano with a move away from Liverpool. He is described in most reports as ‘wantaway’ citing his wife’s apparent reluctance to return to Merseyside. Losing a player of Mascherano’s calibre and mentality would be a huge blow this summer and Rafa Benitez won’t let him go easily. Barcelona are the club reported to be ready to offer £35m for the Argentina captain.

Andrea Dossena‘s future could be settled in the next week according to his agent. Juvenuts are set to decide between him or international team mate Fabio Grosso. Dossena’s agent said “The left-back position is a necessity for the Bianconeri and the directors are not willing to drag this on. However, I still think it’s a two-horse race between Andrea and Grosso.

“Dossena’s age and wages are on his side. Is he worth around €6-7m? The last time I met with Liverpool we did not talk about numbers, I can only say they paid more for him last summer. Andrea has subtly expressed his desire to join Juve in recent days, but he also said that he loves it in Liverpool. We’ll definitely know more about it next week and Juve remain the most likely destination for him.”