City has confirmed Villa will head back to New York City FC, where is contracted, after the club’s round four home clash with Adelaide.Whether he books a return flight to Melbourne is the subject of negotiation between the two City clubs.

While on Wednesday morning van ‘t Schip was unable to give a guarantee of the World Cup winner’s return, he was optimistic Villa would don the Melbourne City shirt again.

‘‘That’s something between the clubs,’’ he said.‘‘I’m confident that he’s happy here and there will be some talks in the coming days.’’

Villa is understood to be keen to see his young family, recently settled in New York, as well as fulfil other obligations for his full-time club.

A spokesperson for Melbourne City elaborated that Villa’s exact number of A-League games was not set in stone.

‘‘We would obviously want a player of his calibre to represent the Club in as many games of the guest allowance as possible between now and the commencement of MLS pre-season training in January,’’ the spokesperson said.

‘‘The precise number of Hyundai A League games that David will play will be determined by the best interests of the player and his now New York-based family and the prioritisation of the requirements of both New York City FC and Melbourne City FC.’’

Under A-League guest player rules, Villa can play up to 10 games for the club.

Should Spain’s all-time top scorer choose to train in New York rather than return to the A-League, there will be considerable disappointment from the club and its newly swollen fan base.

City attracted more than 15,000 people to their first home game of the season, easily out-doing Heart’s previous best for a non-derby match.Villa has twice come to Melbourne City’s rescue in their two A-League matches, scoring second-half equalisers for the club.

Van ‘t Schip dismissed concerns that City were too reliant on the Spanish striker, despite his status as a loan signing.

‘‘He’s important but we also know the situation and we shouldn’t make it bigger than it is,’’ he said.

‘‘He made two very important goals but it doesn’t take away, if you look at the whole team, that we’re playing good football.

‘‘If I look at the team, they’re very strong.’’ AAP