David Villa

David Villa is a Spanish international football who was born in Langreo in 1981. He has gone on to become one of the most successful goalscorers in La Liga history.

Villa started his professional career at Sporting Gijon in 1999. After impressing for the 'B' side, he was promoted to the full team a year later and soon became a regular. His 38 goal tally for the club in just over two seasons persuaded Real Zaragoza to sign him for around €3million.

The Spaniard continued his impressive goal-scoring ratio per game, netting 17 times in his first season at his new club in the Primera Division.

In 2004, Villa helped Zaragoza to reach the final of the Copa del Rey, where they faced Real Madrid. The new Aragonese favourite scored a crucial goal in that tie against the giants of Spanish football. That caught the eye of the manager of the national team, Luis Aragones, who gave him his first call up to the Spain squad.

Unfortunately for Zaragoza, they were unable to keep hold of their star asset in 2005 as financial difficulties meant they were forced to sell. Valencia paid €12million to secure the striker.

Over a six-year period, Villa went on to make 166 appearances for the club, scoring 108 goals. That put him down as one of the club's greatest ever players.
In the early stages of his Valencia career he formed a clinical partnership with Fernando Morientes. That combination helped them to progress into the Champions League group stages in the 2006-2007 season, Villa's first taste of the premier club competition in Europe.

In 2010, Barcelona had a bid accepted, worth €40million. He was able to win La Liga twice with the Catalonia club and he also played a part in their Champions League win in 2011, when they beat Manchester United at Wembley.

The striker is currently plying his trade at Atletico Madrid. He moved to the capital in August after four successful years with the Spanish champions.

Villa is expected to be part of Spain's World Cup squad for 2014. He won the trophy with his country in South Africa in 2010 and was also part of the successful side that succeeded in Euro 2008. Unfortunately for the striker, he was not fit in time to take part in Euro 2012, which Spain also won to make it three consecutive major tournament wins. 

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