Former Barcelona striker, David Villa, has been accused of sexually assaulting a New York City FC intern, Skyler Badillo.

The-38-year-old 2010 World Cup winner played for the MLS side between 2014 and 2018, while Badillo began working as an intern at the club in 2018.

According to who was 20 at that time, the Spanish record goalscorer “touched me every f***ing day”, having initially gone public with the allegations on her personal Twitter account in July.

The Sun reports that the former Valencia striker, Villa, denied the allegations after it first broke out, saying that “I want to categorically deny the accusations made against me on Twitter. These accusations are absolutely false,” he said.

However, in an interview with The Athletic, Badillo said that Villa did touch her and her bosses made a joke out of it when she reported the incident.

“I thought I was getting the opportunity of a lifetime when I got that internship…What I got was David Villa touching me every f***ing day and my bosses thinking it was great comedic material.”

She added: “He started telling me that he loved me” and it became “a constant” thing, going as far as telling “other people, that he loved me” and yelling it whenever “I was walking out of the room”.

Badillo also alleged that Villa had told Melvyn Pamplona, 34 an assistant trainer in charge of interns “that he loved me,” adding that he also did it while”His kid was sitting on his lap.”

Badillo further said that the player had once ” pressed me into the counter” in the presence of her colleague, Kevin Christen, now 38 and the side’s lead trainer.

She said: “I was just cutting tape, getting tape ready for the Monday morning training, because there wasn’t a lot to do.”

“I was standing there and my back was to David…He got up and walked up behind me and put his hands on my hips and sort of pressed me into the counter I was standing at and whispered, into my ear, that I should ‘be careful of men in the city.’

“And then he just left … I looked at Kevin and Kevin was looking at me. He’d seen the entire thing.”

She also explained that the ex-Barcelona star offered her alcohol while she was under the legal drinking age of 21 in the US.

“He started asking me what kind of alcohol I drink, which … I was 20 years old at the time. I was like ‘I don’t really drink.’ He was asking ‘well, what kind of alcohol should I buy’ so that I would come to his apartment for a party.

“I looked at Melvyn and said ‘I don’t think this is a good conversation to be having,’ sort of hoping that he would help me out. And his response was just [to say] ‘well it was just a question.'”

However, a spokesperson for the player who is no longer with the American club denied the claims, telling The Athletic that “While David has never faced this type of issue before, he appreciates the seriousness of this matter and believes it is important to encourage people to speak out about their concerns.

“When David first learned of this situation two years after he had already left the team, he fully cooperated with the investigation and as he has said from the beginning – any allegations of inappropriate behaviour are untrue.”

The club, NYC has since launched an investigation in the summer only to find out that “a small number of players and staff did not act in accordance with the club’s standards” on physical contact, teasing, and comments regarding clothing and appearance of the intern and other club staff but it did not mention Villa it any player’s name.

-The Sun