New York City FC Investigating Sexual Harassment Allegation Against David Villa

New York City Football Club is investigating a sexual harassment allegation against former striker David Villa, the team announced Wednesday. 

"New York City Football Club has learned of the allegations made by a former intern by seeing them on social media," the club wrote in a statement. "We take this matter extremely seriously and we do not tolerate harassment of any kind in any areas of our organization. We immediately launched an investigation into the matter."

Last week, a former NYCFC intern—who goes by the name of Skyler B on Twitter—described Villa "touching me every f---ing day" during Villa's five-year stint with the club. 

"I thought I was getting the opportunity of a life time when I got that internship," Skyler B wrote on Twitter. "What I got was David Villa touching me every f---ing day and my bosses thinking it was great comedic material. Women brave enough to tell their stories this loudly are my heroes. Someday."

In a statement through his agent to Yahoo Sports, Villa denied the allegations, saying, "I strongly object to the accusations made about me on Twitter. These accusations are entirely false and I deny them. It’s hard to understand why this was not raised previously if anyone felt uncomfortable at any time.” He also asked “the media and the public to please respect my right to the presumption of innocence in this matter.”

Villa, 38, became NYCFC's first signing in 2014. The Spaniard won league MVP honors in 2016 after scoring 23 goals that season. 

The 2010 World Cup champion left New York in 2018 before a brief stint in Japan. Villa retired in 2019. He is part owner of 2021 USL Championship expansion franchise Queensboro FC.