David Villa

David Villa Biography

David Villa is a Spanish professional footballer, born on 3 December 1981 in Langreo, Spain. He is a striker and plays for New York City in the MLS and the Spanish National team.

Villa is one of the most successful strikers of his generation. Although Villa is right footed, what makes him special is his ability to be lethal with both his right and left foots. His unmatched finishing and dribbling ability makes him a world class player.

Villa is also a dead ball specialist and a very good passer of the ball which allows him to play a versatile role for his team.

Background

Villa was born in a small district called Tuilla in Northern Spain. At just the age of four, Villa’s dreams were crushed when he fractured his right femur bone. However, he made a miracle recovery.

Villa’s dad, who was a miner was very supportive of him and encouraged him to play football, young spaniard used to train with his weak foot and that is how he got his weak foot ability to be at par with his right.

Villa began his footballing journey at a local team UP Langreo and joined Mareo Football School at the age of 17.

Debut

Villa made his first senior team debut for spanish team Sporting Gijón in the season 2000-01 and went on to score 25 goals that season.

The Spaniard’s international debut came on 9 February 2005 in a 2006 World Cup qualifier against San Marino, where Spain comfortably won the match with a five goal lead.

Rise to Glory

Villa became a goal scoring sensation with 40 goals in two seasons for his first club Sporting and attracted a lot of attention. He was finally signed by Real Zaragoza in 2003 summer transfer. He carried Zaragoza to the 2004 Copa del Rey final and played a vital part by scoring in the final against Real Madrid.

Villa signed for spanish club Valencia in 2005-06 for a fee of €12 million and immediately showed his brilliance. He had a tally of 25 goals in 35 games which was the best individual goal scoring record for any Valencia player since 60 years.

The spaniard continued his great run of form in the coming four seasons with the club and went on to score 108 goals in 166 appearances.

Spanish league’s leading team Barcelona approached Villa for a ludicrous amount of €40 million. He joined Barca on a four year contract on 19 May 2010. Villa made 77 appearances in three seasons for the spanish team and scored 33 goals.

Barcelona agreed terms with team Atletico Madrid for transfer of Villa. He played one season there and scored 13 goals in 33 matches.

The Spain striker switched to MLS in 2014 and plays for New York City FC. His objective was to make the club the best in the league. He has since made 98 appearances and has scored 65 goals.

Villa had a brilliant international career, he had made a lot of positive headlines with Valencia, and was named in the 2006 FIFA World Cup squad. He scored a brace in his world cup debut against Ukraine which ended in a 4-0 victory for Spain.

David scored six goals and played an integral part in Spain’s qualification for Euro 2008. He was for very obvious reasons included in the Spain’s squad for the main tournament and formed a deadly partnership with an in form Fernando Torres who was Spain’s second striker.

Villa got a hat-trick against Russia with a 4-1 victory but unfortunately couldn't take part in the finals due to a thigh injury. However, Spain won the finals against Germany with a 1-0 goal lead.

Villa has 98 international caps and has scored 59 goals for his country.

Retirement

Villa never mentioned that he had retired from International football but it was presumed so. The last time he played for Spain was in the 2014 World Cup and left as the leading scorer for the national team with 59 goals.