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