<p>New York City FC said Wednesday the team will investigate claims of sexual harassment made against former striker David Villa, the Spanish World Cup-winner and ex-Barcelona star.</p>.<p>Allegations against Villa were made on social media by an intern at the Major League Soccer team. Villa has denied the allegations, describing them as "entirely false."</p>.<p>"New York City Football Club has learned of the allegations made by a former intern by seeing them on social media," New York said in a statement.</p>.<p>"We take this matter extremely seriously and do not tolerate harassment of any kind in any areas of our organization. We immediately launched an investigation into the matter."</p>.<p>In comments on Twitter, the woman identified only as "Skyler B" said she was repeatedly harassed by Villa.</p>.<p>"I rarely went a day without him grabbing me or verbally harassing me," she wrote, saying supervisors at the club thought it was "great comedic material."</p>.<p>"Women brave enough to tell their stories this loudly are my heroes," she added.</p>.<p>Villa, 38, denied the allegations in a statement to ESPN.</p>.<p>"I strongly object to the accusations made about me on Twitter," Villa said. "These accusations are entirely false and I deny them. Harassment is a severe problem for many people. It dishonors those who suffer harassment for others to claim it as an excuse to make false accusations.</p>.<p>"As our legal team works to address these false charges, I ask the media and the public to please respect my right to the presumption of innocence in this matter."</p>.<p>Villa was a key member of the Spain team which won the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and a year later starred for Barcelona in their Champions League final victory over Manchester United at Wembley.</p>.<p>He joined New York City FC in 2015 and spent four seasons with the club, winning league Most Valuable Player honours in 2016.</p>.<p>He left in 2018 to play one season in Japan and retired in 2019.</p>
<p>New York City FC said Wednesday the team will investigate claims of sexual harassment made against former striker David Villa, the Spanish World Cup-winner and ex-Barcelona star.</p>.<p>Allegations against Villa were made on social media by an intern at the Major League Soccer team. Villa has denied the allegations, describing them as "entirely false."</p>.<p>"New York City Football Club has learned of the allegations made by a former intern by seeing them on social media," New York said in a statement.</p>.<p>"We take this matter extremely seriously and do not tolerate harassment of any kind in any areas of our organization. We immediately launched an investigation into the matter."</p>.<p>In comments on Twitter, the woman identified only as "Skyler B" said she was repeatedly harassed by Villa.</p>.<p>"I rarely went a day without him grabbing me or verbally harassing me," she wrote, saying supervisors at the club thought it was "great comedic material."</p>.<p>"Women brave enough to tell their stories this loudly are my heroes," she added.</p>.<p>Villa, 38, denied the allegations in a statement to ESPN.</p>.<p>"I strongly object to the accusations made about me on Twitter," Villa said. "These accusations are entirely false and I deny them. Harassment is a severe problem for many people. It dishonors those who suffer harassment for others to claim it as an excuse to make false accusations.</p>.<p>"As our legal team works to address these false charges, I ask the media and the public to please respect my right to the presumption of innocence in this matter."</p>.<p>Villa was a key member of the Spain team which won the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and a year later starred for Barcelona in their Champions League final victory over Manchester United at Wembley.</p>.<p>He joined New York City FC in 2015 and spent four seasons with the club, winning league Most Valuable Player honours in 2016.</p>.<p>He left in 2018 to play one season in Japan and retired in 2019.</p>