Villa is one of the world’s best strikers so why don’t Barca or Madrid touch him?

The Spanish national side possess the two best strikers in the world in Fernando Torres and David Villa. Forget Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and so on, it’s these two who are the deadliest strikers in world football. Whilst Torres has lit up the Premiership as Liverpool’s best player, Villa has been the man keeping Valencia in contention for Champion’s League spots and helping them to the latter parts of their cup campaigns. His finishing record is second to none and his ability seeming flawless, and he’s been linked to moves to Premiership teams numerous times. But why has he never ended up at Real Madrid or Barcelona?

The 28-year-old always maintained that he wanted to stay in Spain which meant that the two Spanish giants were the only destinations he could have available. Valencia, meanwhile, suffered horrible financial problems and would be willing to sell him to make funds available to stop the rot – even though their asking price is high Barca and Real have not been stopped by a transfer price before and splashed out similar fees to the one Villa would cost to sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Karim Benzema respectively. But why have both teams, both of who’ve been linked with Villa at some stage in the past, opted against signing him and gone for other targets instead?

His age is not the problem; Ibrahimovic is two months older than Villa but Barca still splashed out a massive fee for him. The Spanish giants have money to burn and splashing out on a player who would last them several seasons would not do them any harm. And in signing Villa they would have one of the world’s best – who could prove himself to be even better than we’ve seen so far given better service and more creative team-mates.

Valencia are naturally reluctant to sell their prize asset and their claims that they can afford to keep him whenever a transfer window has arrived has made his departure more complicated. But financial difficulties do not clear so easily and Valencia’s hardball stance is simply a smokescreen to get a massive fee or hold onto Villa for just a bit longer. And Villa himself has caused a problem; whilst his declaration that he would only be interested in moving to another Spanish club should excite the big boys, he has always stated his desire to remain with Valencia when linked with anyone – Spanish teams included.

Signing Villa would not represent a risk to either Barca or Real – he is already prolific in the Spanish league, is a native of the country and would need little settling in, but their hands have been forced elsewhere by the player himself. Unlike most players in the modern game Villa possesses the charm of loyalty – he is very loyal to Valencia and wants to succeed with them, putting off his suitors and making it harder for anyone to win him over. If Valencia decide to sell him then Villa will go as they wish but the club’s constant change of minds have allowed Villa to pledge his allegiance further. You would expect a respectable, loyal player to become even more of a target for a top club but that’s not the case in Spain, hard-track bullies though the big boys may be, they won’t mess with a player who doesn’t want to leave and that’s left Villa right where he wants to be – in Valencia.