David Villa has had a pretty good year. In mid-May of last year Villa joined Barcelona from Valencia for €40million. Then during the months of June and July he led Spain to their first ever World Cup title in South Africa, ending the tournament as top scorer with five of La Furia Roja’s eight goals. Only a month and a half later, on August 29, he scored his first goal for the Blaugrana in their first league game of the season. Since then he has bagged twenty-three goals for Barcelona in all competitions, helping them to another League triumph and their second Champions League title in three years. He accomplished more in his first season with our club than many players do in their entire careers, and yet he went through the year being criticized and has been questioned by some since the end of the season as well. He was hailed by many Cules as the perfect replacement for Samuel Eto’o after Zlatan Ibrahimovic disappointed last year with an impressive twenty-one goal season performance. Our favourite Cameroonian left some bloody big shoes to fill with one hundred and twenty-five goals in five seasons for the Catalan giants in addition to a telepathic relationship with Lionel Messi in the attacking third of the pitch. Has David Villa done what was expected of him? Did he crack the Samuel Eto’o code?

As much as I do not like to make statistical comparisons, I think it is interesting to observe Villa and Ibrahimovic’s first seasons with Barcelona, draw what conclusions you will.

 

	David Villa	Zlatan Ibrahimovic
La Liga Appearances	34	29
La Liga Goals	18	16
La Liga Assists	5	7
Champions League Appearances	12	9
Champions League Goals	4	4
Champions League Assists	1	2

 

Stats tell us that there are very few differences between the two player’s first seasons. Some may even feel that Ibrahimovic had the better debut season due to the fact that he played fewer games. However I would argue that David Villa brings some intangibles to Barcelona that Ibrahimovic never did – and like our friends at Master Card tell us, some things are priceless. The Champions League Final at Wembley was the perfect example that David Villa is more than just a scorer. He was one of Barcelona’s unsung heroes in London in my opinion and he played his role to perfection. Guardiola asked him to pressure the Manchester United back-line relentlessly and he did a commendable job. The few times Barcelona played a long-ball from the back David Villa made sure that he challenged for every header with Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. His and his teammates’ work rates made sure that Manchester United never had much time on the ball and the fact that Villa was able to win a few headers against players a full five inches taller than he was speaks volumes about how committed he was to doing what was asked of him. In this way Villa was similar to the type of impact that Samuel Eto’o had during his time at the Camp Nou, he was a workhorse for the Blaugrana in his five years with the Catalan side and Villa has taken up his role. This is in stark contrast to Zlatan Ibrahimovic who often seemed like he wanted his teammates to do all the work and was just concerned with scoring. Additionally, David Villa is a big game player. Whether for club or country he can always be counted on to score when he is needed; he scored two goals in Barcelona’s 5-0 demolition of Real Madrid at the start of the season, as well as the absolute stunner that put the Champions League final beyond any doubt against Manchester United.

Villa is more than a scorer, he is a complete player. I was at the Camp Nou when he was unveiled to Cules all around the world and I for one am looking forward to watching him in a Barcelona shirt for many years to come. Villa Villa Villa, Villa Maravilla!

Written by Barcaloco contributor Caleb Cousens.  Follow Caleb on Twitter at @Gaffers_Corner.