Juventus have denied making an audacious bid for Barcelona star David Villa, though Oscar Cardozo is an option if Fernando Llorente can’t escape Athletic Bilbao.

The Bianconeri have made it clear Llorente is their number one target to reinforce the front line, but Athletic are refusing to release him for less than his €36m buy-out clause.

As the Turin giants won’t offer more than €20m for a player who is in the last year of his contract, the situation is at a stand-still.

Reports emerged in Spanish newspaper El Comercio yesterday claiming Juve had turned their attention to another Liga star, David Villa.

The 30-year-old World Cup winner has just returned from a long injury lay-off which forced him to miss Euro 2012. It was rumoured Juventus were offering a four-year contract worth €8m per season.

“I can rule out any interest or negotiations for David Villa,” director general Beppe Marotta told Mundo Deportivo.

“He is a great player, but not the type we are looking for. We want a striker in the style of Edinson Cavani or Llorente, who are our primary targets along with Edin Dzeko.”

Italian newspapers now suggest another option is Benfica’s Paraguayan hitman Oscar Cardozo, who has been linked on and off throughout the summer.

We really need a world class goal getter