Only by people in England. Villa was always the starting striker for Spain and was always the much more decisive player for them.
David Villa announces retirement
- Thread starter Bojan11
- Start date
Villa definitely works harder off the ball, but overall Neymar is probably as good of a goalscorer but more adept to play on the wing and is much better creatively. I think the difference in talent would be bigger than the difference in suitability — especially since lately we've seen Pep working with lots of different wingers like Robben, Sterling, Sane and even Mahrez (the latter one was pretty much the opposite of the image of Pep's winger in my eyes).
Torres was 3rd in Ballon d'Or list of 2008 (Villa was 7th), 11th in 2009 (Villa was 26th) and only after Villa transferred to a big club he managed to finish higher — so no, not only in England. I'd still say that Torres peak level was higher though, but it was quite short and Villa definitely had a better career, despite spending his better years at Valencia.
I may have a spot for him on my over 35 team in Niagara Falls...
You can't seriously be suggesting they downgraded from Villa to Neymar.
I remember my devastation when we didn't sign him when he was leaving Valencia. Great player at his peak.
One of my favourite ever players. What a striker, great finishing technique and will go down as an all time great.
Tremendous player.
Good player but declined a bit after he left Valencia and never found that elite form again. The Spanish Robbie Keane.
Always remember the goal he scored against Utd in the CL Final. Top bins
Not trying to downplay Robbie Keane but Villa was in a whole different class.
No. I reckon Neymar had much more weapons, but in terms of showing up in big matches Villa was suited for it.
He was the most decisive player for Spain in their 2010 world cup win. They were impotent without his goals.
Great player, and I was gutted we never got him. He would've been the one worth breaking the Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez trio for (for Tevez obviously)
Great player, and I was gutted we never got him. He would've been the one worth breaking the Rooney, Ronaldo and Tevez trio for (for Tevez obviously)
Neymar showed up in big matches for Barca.
Yeah his finishing was a level above for sure, but they had similar career trajectories. I didnt mention MLS because I didnt want it to seem like having a go at him for going there, but the fact is he found a level that was suitable for him at that time, and he prolonged his career because of it. I remember being a bit disappointed he didn't set the world alight at Barca, I expected him to deliver for them like Suarez eventually did.
Villa had far more to his game than kean. He played out on the wing to accomodate Messi in the false #9 role for most of his Barca career. He was also ambidextrous.
His leg break in December 2011 impacted his career at Barca.
It was an upgrade because post injury Villa wasnt that good. But 2008-2010 Villa has no upgrade imo. Neymar was more like a sideways step imo, comparing both of them at their prime.
He was an absolute killer. Better than Torres.
As prolific a striker as they come.
Pure class.
Pure class.
As good as Villa was (one of the very best strikers of that era), Neymar is better in every facet of the game except finishing.
At no point was Villa as good for Barca as what Neymar was. First things first he was pretty much played out of position for most of his stay there.
We were strongly linked to him before he joined Valencia. Think the SSN (when they were reliable) article relating to our interest at that time is still knocking about the web somewhere.
Torres had a crazy peak (not in terms of numbers neccessarily - neither did Villa - but in the sense that feck me he was crazy good when he was on song for about 2.5 seasons). He was a phenomenal player.
Villa was arguably the better of the two and I agree in that sense (certainly over longevity/time, but also in link up play) but certainly also a better player for Spain and definitely more what Barca needed.
I don't think Villa at that Liverpool team would have been that great, for instance - not to the level Torres was. Likewise, Torres in that Barca team wouldn't have fit either.
He was my idol for nearly a decade, wanted to have the same hairstyle, play the same and take penalties the same. Last player I've ever looked at as an idol since I'm basically older than a lot of players these days going on 28. Somehow felt Torres got more applause even though Villa was a much better player. After Torres lost some pace, he never redefined himself while Villa did with A.Madrid.
Let's be honest. This was phenomenal.
I think he's underrated.
Not because people don't appreciate he was an exceptional player because everyone does.
But I don't feel he gets the credit he deserves for his contribution to those Spain and Barcelona sides.
Not because people don't appreciate he was an exceptional player because everyone does.
But I don't feel he gets the credit he deserves for his contribution to those Spain and Barcelona sides.
What could have been.
It would be fair to say he's the best striker in the international game since Ronaldo.
Amazing player. Great career.
He was Spain's best ever striker and did a very good job playing left wing for Barcelona, instead of as a striker
And movement. And international performance.
Between him and Eto'o for the #5 spot in the ranking of strikers from the last 20-ish years after Fenômeno, Suárez, Henry and Shevchenko (including the Kyiv period), IMO. Such a wonderful center forward — one of the select few that could excel in just about any scheme because of his movement, intelligence, balance, ability to link with team-mates and of course, unerring eye for goal. While the Zaragoza and Valencia years played a part in his progression, you have to wonder how much higher he would be regarded by the wider football-watching base if he had joined a major club sooner (and been the star of the show at #9). By the time he transferred to Barcelona at age 28, you-know-who was already establishing himself as a historically great False 9 and Villa had to cater to his needs — would've been much more impactful at center forward with the wide creative forward version of Messi from recent years! 
Lots of strikers struggled at Barca. Ibrahimovic struggled. Put Suarez on the wing under Pep and he would have struggled. Henry wasn’t happy playing left wing either.
internationally Neymar is great. He’s only behind 2 players or so in their top goal scorer charts at 27. He usually always performs for his country apart from last years WC where he wasn’t fully fit. Villa was was great too but part of that Golden generation Spain had.
That's a beautiful goal
So? Villa won things, and is his country's top goalscorer. And a lot less was expected of Spain than Brazil before Villa came through. They've also been nowhere near the same since he stopped playing for the national team. Brazil might even be better after Neymar
The football brain side never ages. I saw a massively overweight retired Maradona run an entire (testimonial) game standing still.
He barely moved, but could still see things us up in the stands only visualised after he executed them.
Guess he's ready to come play for us.
They haven't been the same because other player like Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso etc that were the core of the team, declined not because of Villa. He didn't play at Euro2012 but they still won that competition.
They werent as good
Spain 2012 was the version least reliant on having a top center forward (mostly out of necessity). I personally think they were no worse than 08 and definitely better than WC 2010.
Spain 2010 in all honesty was quite brutal to watch, such a technical side with so many great players shouldn’t be scraping out 1-0 wins throughout the tournament. Sure, even without scoring they never really looked like losing either, but we saw glimpse of what could’ve happened with the Swiss defeat in groupstage, and with a less talented forward than Villa that tournament they could easily have stumbled in PKs somewhere along the line.