Barcelona striker David Villa has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a fracture in the tibia during the Club World Cup. David Villa has been linked with a move to a number of clubs across Europe after falling out of favour with Barcelona coach Guardiola.

There have been many rumours that David Villa is discontent with life at Barcelona, where it is believed that the coach favours Lionel Messi more than any other striker. However, the latest injury will mean that David Villa is unlikely to move in January, while it also means that Barcelona could be in the market for another striker.

A Barcelona statement said that David Villa has only a small chance of playing again this season after fracturing his tibia in the Club World Cup. There is also very good chance that David Villa could not be involved with Spain for the Euro 2012 championships, which takes place in Poland and Ukraine. It is thought that the fracture area has been troubling David Villa for quite some time now and the fracture is nothing but a stress related injury. Barcelona coach Guardiola has said that Barcelona have the quality to win the title without David Villa and that he hopes for a better recovery of his striker.

“Players prefer not to have the operation so as not to lose four or five months. Normally no one wants to have preventative surgery. Everyone hopes he will be able to play Euro 2012. It’s a little tight for the Champions League final in Munich. If I gave a date for his return I would probably be wrong. It will be his leg that decides,” said Dr Cugat who performed the surgery on the striker. David Villa moved to Barcelona for £ 34 million in 2010.