Has David Villa Lost His Mojo?

David Villa, who currently plays for FC Barcelona and the Spanish National Team, has won numerous trophies and holds many records for his club and country. His status as a top footballer declined as Pep Guardiola’s most unsuccessful year as Barcelona head coach saw Villa miss nearly all of last season, due to suffrage with kidney stones. The Spanish forward who returned from his career-changing injury in late November, simply couldn’t find the form which won him the Golden Boot for Spain back in 2008 and also the Silver Boot in 2010. To back his stardom with trophies, Villa is a record holder for being the first Spanish player to reach 50 international goals and is Spain’s all-time top goal scorer, having scored more World Cup goals than any other player in the team.

Goals to game ratio which Villa has achieved for his national side has not been matched since the time of Spanish legend, Alfredo Di Stefano. But since his fatal injury, many Barcelona fans and football experts have expressed their opinion and said that he hasn’t been the same. Most of his time at Barcelona has seen him play on the wing while ‘the best player in the world’ Lionel Messi plays in the central role which suits Villa according to his skill on the field.

If you take a look at David Villa’s goal scoring stats on the wing for Barcelona in the season 2010-11, (includes all competitions) he made 52 appearances scoring 23 goals and making 9 assists, The following season saw him make 24 appearances scoring 23 goals and making 2 assists.The present season however has seen him in 32 appearances, from which he scored 14 goals and made 4 assists. If you compare these average stats for a Barcelona player who they bought for 40 million Euros, to his international stats where he does play in that number 9 position, he has made 88 appearances scoring 53 goals, which is a ratio of 0.6. These stats clearly indicate what Villa is capable of if he is given a chance in that prized central role for Barcelona.

Stats speak more than half the story, but Villa’s average performances have not gone unnoticed as Tito Villanova, the current Barcelona manager, has created a new formation to try and get the best out of Villa.

Valdes, Mascherano, Pique, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Alves, Messi, Pedro, Villa

This is just a team I have created to show you the formation. When you play Villa in the central role, his movement is amazing as he loves running in behind the Center Back and looking for that final ball from Xavi or Iniesta. When David plays on the wing you can’t see that same spark as compared to the previous role. It’s as though Barcelona are playing with 10 men.
Seeing as David Villa doesn’t get his worth at Camp Nou, he was linked with numerous clubs in the recently closed January transfer window. Rumors of moving to Arsenal, Juventus and even Swansea City were all just speculation which eventually didn’t fall through. To further emphasize, he had a thought of going out on loan to get some action and fitness and to rediscover his goal scoring form.

Since January though Villa has hit a bit of form and thanks to this new formula that Tito has created, I think he is starting to find his mojo back slowly, but I along with most football fans can still see David Villa leaving this summer for England.