From the home of outlandish statements, Spanish newspaper and website Marca comes something that really might shake Villa fans to their very core. If there was an eruption of excitement in last January when Darren Bent signed, prepare for something on a whole new level.
Here’s the front page for today, December 14th:
Marca are reporting today that David Villa is becoming increasingly disappointed with being under-utilised at Barcelona under lead coach Pep Guardiola. What might this have to do with Aston Villa I hear you ask? Well the reports are suggesting that David Villa is eyeing a Premier League move with the targetted clubs interested and able being Liverpool, Chelsea, and Aston Villa. I’m not going to sit here and say this is something I have had insider information on. It is an article in a Spanish paper, not me predicting Villa’s arrival.
As for the player, whilst Villa may be 30 years of age, the suggestion that such a player would come to Villa is on a whole different scale to that of Bobby Zamora or A N Other aging English international. A statement of intent to purchase a World Cup winner is a whole different level of ambition. Not only is David Villa a winner, but his strike rate is outstanding – 23 in 49 at Barcelona is good in itself, but he scored 108 in 166 games for Valencia.
Quotes from Marca
The main passage of interest is below in Spanish, with an English translation by me underneath:
“A día de hoy, el futuro de David Villa parece estar en Inglaterra. Su destino parece ser uno de los grandes clubes ingleses, principalmente Chelsea, Liverpool o Aston Villa. Los de Anfield han mostrado mucho interés en su fichaje, aunque su oferta económica no parece llegar a la del Chelsea.”
“Today, the future of David Villa seems to be in England. His future appears to be at one of the great English clubs, mainly Chelsea, Liverpool and Aston Villa. Liverpool have shown much interest in the move, although it appears that Chelsea may be uninterested at the value set.”
The full article is here (in Spanish).
Of course, this may just be another rumour that Marca have created, although it would seem largely strange for them to report something to include Aston Villa unless there was some link, no matter how strained.
The bigger question that this article seeks to ask fans is regarding what this kind of target indicates. After a series of months where the board have been lambasted for poor decisions in managerial appointments and lack of investment, would a cost cutting exercise that plants the likes of David Villa at the club placate the situation?
In my humble opinion, such a move – even if it turns out to be nothing more than announcing interest – whatever the final outcome, would suggest a very different angle being taken by the board. Detractors may well suggest it is another bait and switch, an evil plan to hype the fans only to destroy them, although my response to that would be that this is Marca reporting the link, not Randy Lerner.
So if Djalo got your interest and Zamora has been touted, just what would the reaction to this kind of signing mean to fans? Villa at Villa? Could it possibly be happening? We can dare to dream, can’t we? Even if it never happens, it is nice to be linked with some real stars of the game.
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