Del Bosque to give Villa time

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has stated he is prepared to give David Villa as long as possible to return from injury for Euro 2012.

The World Cup-winning boss has decided to delay selecting his 23-man squad for Poland and Ukraine until May 27 due to the Copa del Rey final between Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao two days earlier. However, Barcelona forward Villa has not played since December when he broke his leg during the Club World Cup game against Al Sadd and required surgery as a result. Del Bosque is hoping the added time will give Villa a chance to prove his fitness before the end of the season in order to be included in the defending champions' squad for Euro 2012. He told reporters: "Villa at the Euros? I talked with Pep yesterday. We will wait until the last moment, he's our top goalscorer." Spain are heading to Poland and Ukraine as favourites and, as a result, become the first team to defend their European Championships. But del Bosque insists that Holland and Germany should also be in the running due to their "impeccable Euro 2012 qualifying runs". "Then you have England, Italy, France, Portugal, they all have excellent players. And in these relatively short championships it can happen that any country comes into form and wins it, as happened with Greece in Portugal in 2004," he added.