Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said yesterday he will wait to the last moment for David Villa to join the Euro 2012 squad as Barcelona reported his broken leg is healing “very well”.

Villa, dubbed King David for his 51 goals in 82 internationals, fractured his left tibia in Barcelona’s Club World Cup semi-final win over Al Sadd in Japan on December 15.

Del Bosque said he had spoken to Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola on Thursday for an update on 30-year-old Villa’s recovery.

“I last spoke to his current coach yesterday. He told me how he is,” the Spain coach told a news conference.

“We have an obligation and also a conviction that we should wait until the last moment in David’s case because he has been our most reputable goal scorer, the surest player and we should wait, of course.”

In a separate news conference, Guardiola said of Villa: “His recovery is going very well. Better and better. Hopefully he will be able to go to the Euro.”

Spain will publish a provisional list on May 15 including those going to the Euro and the London Olympics, Del Bosque said.

Later, he said, the team will decide on possible players from Chelsea who face Bayern Munich on May 19, and then those from Barcelona or Athletic Bilbao who clash in the domestic King’s Cup final May 25.

A definitive list will be drawn up May 27, Del Bosque said, but Spain could still wait to bring in Villa right up until May 29, the deadline for handing over the documentation to UEFA.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.