Alba welcomed to Barca

Jordi Alba’s €14m transfer to Barcelona that was completed on Wednesday has taken the number of Barca players in the current Spanish squad to eight and he has been welcomed with open arms by another new team-mate who did not make it to the European Championship.

David Villa missed out on Vicente del Bosque’s squad after failing to recover in time from breaking his fibula in December but he has been impressed by his former Valencia team-mate’s progress after only one season of playing as a left-back.