Player Focus: David Villa and Barcelona's Wealth of Strikers
With the recent purchase of Neymar, it’s fair to say that Barcelona’s already potent attacking line has become that bit stronger. The long running transfer saga was brought to an abrupt end over the weekend as the Brazilian opted to sign his future away to the Blaugrana having wept during his final home game in a Santos shirt.
The Primera Division champions netted the most goals (111) in Europe over the season and with one game still to play, Tito Vilanova’s side will likely add to that when they take on Malaga over the weekend. With Neymar an addition to an attack that already boasts the likes of Lionel Messi, Alexis Sanchez, Pedro, Cesc Fabregas and Cristian Tello, it’s fair to say that Barcelona are overstocked on the front line.
With that in mind, there is one player that will likely miss out on plying his trade with the 21-year-old; striker David Villa. The Spaniard has started sporadically for the Catalan giants this term, with 11 of his 27 league appearances coming from the bench. Regardless, Villa still has nine goals and five assists to his name; not necessarily a poor return for a striker who missed the latter half of the 2011/12 season with a tibia fracture.
Nevertheless, a summer exit from Camp Nou is expected. The 31-year-old hit the target with 54.5% of his shots - the highest proportion of players in La Liga that have had 40 or more shots on goal - yet that seemingly isn't enough. That return is exactly why Arsenal showed an interest in Villa last summer, only for a deal to fail to materialise, with manager Arsene Wenger placing the goalscoring trust at the feet of Olivier Giroud, Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott.
Understandably, there are those that would be loathe to losing Villa at Barcelona, even if there is a wealth of exceptional striking capabilities available to Vilanova. The arrival of Neymar, granted, will ease the concerns of the so-called ‘Messidependencia’, highlighted by their 7-0 aggregate humbling at the hands of Bayern Munich in the Champions League, but the Spain international remains an exceptional talent who would be a welcome acquisition for any team.
Indeed, when Villa has started this season, Barcelona have won 93.7% of their league games, compared to 76.2% without him. Furthermore, Barcelona score an average of 3.13 goals per game with him in the starting XI, a marginal improvement on the 2.9 without him.
His prolificacy in front of goal is highlighted in that Villa scored once in just two games he started spearheading Barcelona’s attack, while Fabregas netted just twice in seven starts in the same role. Furthermore, amongst Barcelona players, only Messi has converted more clear-cut goalscoring opportunities (27) than Villa (7), although that comes as no real surprise considering the Argentine has scored the most goals in Europe’s top five leagues (46) this year. Moreover, in seeing 24 of his shots hit the target this term - a figure again only bettered by that of Messi (80) - his shooting ability will be an asset to any team should they convince Barcelona to sell.
However, when comparing his shooting accuracy with the players generally considered as striking outlets to Vilanova - Villa, Messi, Fabregas, Pedro, Sanchez and Tello - it’s Sanchez who comes out on top, with the Chilean seeing 60% of his shots hit the target. Yet, having only fired away 30 shots on goal all season, it could be argued that Villa’s 54.5% is the more impressive, having taken 44 shots all season.
While Villa may have failed to replicate the form he showed during his time with Real Zaragoza and Valencia following his big money move to Barcelona, the stats reinforce his striking credentials, managing to maintain a high level of performance despite regularly playing as second fiddle to Messi and co.
It comes as no real shock, in that case, to see Tottenham Hotspur linked with a move for the striker, with his shooting accuracy an improvement on that of Jermain Defoe (37.9%) and Emmanuel Adebayor (45.2%), while his conversion rate (20.5%) is vastly superior to those of both the former (10.2%) and the latter (11.9%).
Nonetheless, with Neymar's arrival Villa is likely to be pushed out over the summer, no matter the mooted departure of Sanchez also. Yet Villa is still a fantastically talented striker, and Barcelona’s loss will undoubtedly be the gain of another team and with Spurs allegedly leading the race for his signature, he would be a welcome addition in Andre Villas-Boas’ side.
