As David Villa prepares to call time on what’s been an incredible career, we look back and discuss why he is a legend of the game and perhaps does not receive enough credit.
With current Vissel Kobe striker and former Valencia, Barcelona, and Atlético Madrid forward David Villa getting ready for the final game of his career, it is time to recognize something that is not often discussed: he is Spain’s greatest-ever striker.
Many forget that El Guaje is Spain’s all-time leading goalscorer by a wide margin and a crucial piece of Spain’s dominance of international football during the golden era of 2008-2012. In 98 caps, Villa managed 59 goals, 15 ahead of what his closest competition, Real Madrid icon Raúl González, could manage.
More than just the numbers, however, Villa’s goals came in huge moments. He was the joint top scorer of the 2010 World Cup and netted 13 times across four major tournaments (he missed Euro 2012 due to breaking his leg with Barcelona the season prior), collecting a World Cup and European Championship in his illustrious but underrated international career.
Although the case is strong regarding his international merits, Villa succeeded at the highest level of club football as well. Perhaps because he never played in the internationally viewed Premier League, he doesn’t receive the credit he deserves as one of the generation’s best, but Villa was always one of La Liga’s top forwards.
Even at Real Zaragoza, his first club in the Spanish top flight, he managed a Copa del Rey and Supercopa de España before his move to Valencia, one of the clubs at which he is best known. Villa would add another Copa del Rey with Los Che before his move to Barcelona proved the most fruitful of his career. Part of Pep Guardiola’s legendary squad, Villa helped Barcelona to lift La Liga and the 2011 UEFA Champions League title, where he would score in the final.
Not stopping there, however, Villa would depart Catalonia in 2013 for Atleti, where he would claim a league title with a second team while also leading Los Rojiblancos to the Champions League Final, where they would ultimately fall short against rivals Real Madrid. After what would turn out to be his La Liga swan song, he departed for MLS, a move many experts would soon categorize as “too soon”.
Villa proved he still had something left in the tank during his time in New York by getting back into the Spanish national team picture during their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign while also scoring 80 goals and providing 21 assists as he dominated MLS. Villa was named the league’s MVP in 2016, and joined fellow Spanish legends Andrés Iniesta and Fernando Torres in Japan to call time on his career. With 325 career club goals in the bag, he is one of the most prolific goalscorers in the history of Spanish football.
Villa deserves more recognition in the general footballing audience, something perhaps the spotlight of England could have brought. I believe he would have succeeded at a top English club without a doubt, and that his résumé puts him above figures such as Didier Drogba and Robin van Persie, even though these two receive much more praise and admiration as legends of the Premier League. Villa starred on their level, or even better, but did it his own way, and through longevity, glory at both club and international level, and a prolific eye for goal, he stands as Spain’s greatest-ever striker and one of the best of his generation.