If recent news is to be believed, the stage is set for David Villa to take a trip up the coast to Barcelona this summer in a €40million move also involving Bojan and Alexander Hleb. 'El Guaje' has another 4 years left on his Valencia contract, but with the Mestalla club up to their elbows in debt, 40 big ones would do very nicely indeed. If Laporta (in what will be his fairwell gift to the fans) and Guardiola succeed in staving off interest from across Europe and manage to pull this deal off, it would be fantastic news for Barca fans, as a striker in the Eto'o mould is exactly what has been missing from the Barca jigsaw this season. A striker proven at sticking the ball in the back of the net; a natural born predator. Their most recent fox in the box, Samuel Eto'o, was moved on to Inter Milan last summer by Pep Guardiola as a result of his erratic behaviour and unsettling nature, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic moved in the opposite direction. But after a positive start to his Camp Nou career, the giant swede has since flattered to deceive. His dire performance against his former club in the Champions League semi-final quite possibly the straw that broke Peps back.
Quite how Barcelona would fair with the Spanish hitman within their ranks should strike fear across Spain and Europe. And it would go down like a lead balloon in Madrid, after Ramon Calderon and Florentino Perez both tried and failed to get Villa to sign on the dotted line during the last two summer transfer windows.
If he can score for fun in Valencia, just imagine how many he would get at Barca...
David Villa:
Career: 235 goals in 455 appearances
Valencia: 129 goals in 212 appearances
Spain: 36 goals in 55 appearances
Fernando Torres (cant see it happening) and Angel Di Maria also linked to Barca this summer.
ReplyDeleteFor me the Zlatan signing was just Laporta trying to show that like Perez he can sign big players too. I still think they are in shock at Inter for the price they got. Zlatan is a top striker no doubt but I think he is better suited at a club like Real or Chelsea who tend to use a big man upfront. Some might say that Barca had no idea of how it would work out but when the young swede was 16 he was rejected by Arsenal because Wenger said that even though he had the talent to be one of the biggest players in the game, his style didnt suit Arsenal. What team in Spain play very similar to Arsenal?
ReplyDeleteSpot on. Very talented, just in the wrong team. And needs to work on his attitude.
ReplyDeleteNever knew he got rejected at Arsenal! Might not have worked out for Ibra back in the days of the invincibles, but I'm sure Wenger would swap him for Bendtner now.....just not at the price Barca paid!
Yeah he had a trail when he was 16 and he was given a signed shirt and told on yer bike. I want to give Bendtner another year. Remember it took Henry a while to find his feet and Adebayor missed a good few sitters
ReplyDeleteAs a Barca admirer I'd love this. Should be taken with a pinch on salt, though. The story is from Marca.
ReplyDeleteGary: To be honest I really like Bendtner....lived in Denmark for a summer and they wax lyrical about him over there. Needs to work on his finishing but when he's on song he can be lethal. Him and Van Persie will be interesting next season.
ReplyDeleteYou're right....I take great care to pick and choose from what comes out of Marca! Waited a few days, no-one came out and denied the story (Villa, Barca nor Valencia), so guessed there must be some mileage in it. Can you imagine Villa at Barca....they would be untouchable (again).