David Villa Moves From Valencia To Barcelona

Barcelona’s acquisition of David Villa sparked speculation that incumbent center forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic would be leaving the Nou Camp this summer. Barcelona, however, is not amongst the speculators; rather, the Spanish champions claim they’re intent on keeping their Swedish striker, a statement that could be genuine or genuinely posturing.

The default position - since we are not privy to the internal thinking of Joan LaPorta, Txiki Begiristain, or Pep Guardiola - would be to trust the club’s president when he says the Catalan giants have no intention of immediately recouping their investment in Ibrahimovic: €46 million plus Samuel Eto’o. However, Guardiola’s end-of-season squad selection intimated Ibrahimovic had lost his place within the first team. After being subbed-off in the second half of Barcelona’s last UEFA Champions League match against Internazionale, Ibrahimovic lost his starting spot to Bojan Krkic. Having seeing Ibrahimovic lose this place in the team, we can infer the quick move for David Villa may have been as much about acquired a long sought jewel as it was the jewel perfectly fitting a newly identified need.

Villa will undergo a medical in Barcelona on Friday after Barça’s €40 million bid was accepted by Valencia. The move will end a five season run for Villa at the Mestalla, having moved to Valencia from Real Zaragoza in 2005.

Over that time, the Spanish international scored 129 goals in 212 all-competition appearances, becoming the consensus best striker in Spain’s Primera Division. He moves to Barcelona after leading Valencia to a third place finish in league and the Europa League quarterfinals, recording 28 goals and 10 assists along the way.