According to the News of the World, Manchester City could be on their way to wrapping up a world-record £52m deal for Valencia striker David Villa.

The report says that Villa’s agent is set to fly into Manchester on Tuesday to discuss a deal, and that if all goes well, a deal could be in place by the end of the week, with Villa earning a £160k per week contract.

You always have to question reports that come from the News of the World, but Valencia do need money, and City do have plenty of it to spend.

Valencia will no doubt hate to see Villa go, but it’d be hard to turn down that kind of offer when it could really help their current financial situation. Selling Villa for that price would likely allow them to hold on to the likes of Juan Mata and Joaquin and maintain/reinforce a squad that is strong enough to make a deep run in the UEFA Cup (more cash!) and likely hang in the race for a Champions League place (even more cash!).

City appear dead-set on signing a huge name in January, no matter what the cost is. Nothing wrong with spending money if you’ve got it, and Villa is just the striker they need to take their attack over the top. But hopefully they’ll be spending at least half that much on bringing in more defensive help, otherwise they’ll be like Tottenham last year – plenty of goals, but light in the points department.

Do you think Manchester City will get David Villa? Is £52m the right price for him, or too high?