I really do believe that Villa will win the Premier League next season. Unfortunately for all you claret and blues out there, it’s Valencia’s David Villa I’m referring to. As it’s looking increasingly likely Villa will be sold by Valencia in the summer, the Premiership big guns will all no doubt be on alert.
Valencia has had financial issues for several years now, but the club is aware that success on the field is imperative to keep the wolf from the door, so has steadfastly refused to sell its star players. This will change in the summer, though, as work on a new 75,000-seater stadium has ground to a halt, and the club appears to be desperately short of cash. Cash from player sales will therefore be ploughed straight into the stadium project, and enable the club to sell their existing Mestalla site.
So Villa’s a Prem cert next season. And I really don’t think it matters which big Premier League side sign him either. If he can reproduce his Valencia goal scoring form (where he nets on average every other game), he will improve any of the top sides chances of winning / retaining the Premiership. Chelsea has to be the favourites for his signature, though, and if he does end up at the Bridge, I doubt any team will be able to cope with Chelsea firepower that includes Drogba, Anelka, Kalou and the ever-improving Daniel Sturridge. It’s already a strike force to fear, but add Villa and, well, game over.
And whichever side signs him will, in my view, be favourites for the league title. Liverpool are reported to be interested, and pairing him upfront alongside his international strike partner Fernando Torres will have the red half of Merseyside drooling. The continuing uncertainty around Liverpool’s financial position will, however, probably rule a move out. And it will be a similar situation at the other end of the East Lancs Road at Old Trafford too. The purse strings appear to be tightening as the debt spirals. United’s hierarchy will be more concerned with fighting off attempts to lure Wayne Rooney to Spain. However, if that reported £100m bid comes in for Rooney (and is accepted), Ferguson will have to respond with a big money signing of his own.
Arsenal, of course, has never spent that sort of money on a player, and I doubt whether Wenger will entertain it on a 28 year old, so, by process of elimination, Chelsea’s main challenge for his signature will come from cash-rich Manchester City. City, though, remain a work-in-progress, and Villa might view a move there as a step down. He could, however, be the marquee signing Blues fans have been craving, and that’s where I think he’ll end up. Although it pains me to say it, it looks like Chelsea for the title (again), then.
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