Liverpool FC Forum

by **Toffeehater** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:23 pm

DAVID VILLA is ready to snub Chelsea and move to Arsenal.

The £20million-rated Valencia striker, 26, shot to the top of Avram Grant’s summer hitlist after netting 63 goals over the last three seasons.

Chelsea chief Grant is thought to have made contact over a move.

But Villa insists he would rather be a Gunner.

Villa said: “I watch the Premier League a lot and the team I’m most attracted to is definitely Arsenal.

“Their brilliant one and two-touch football and the whole style of rapid counter-attack which dominates the top level of the Premier League now is the one which suits my game best of all.

“I think I’m made to succeed in England but of course it’s one thing saying it and quite another getting there and then doing it.

“The Valencia president always told me he wouldn’t sell me until summer 2008. If an offer comes in I’m hungry to test myself in England.”

If Villa cannot agree a deal with Arsenal, his next option would be to join fellow Spain international Fernando Torres at Liverpool.

He added: “It’s great playing alongside Fernando. We understand each other totally and we get on brilliantly off the park.”

by **maypaxvobiscum** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:51 pm

hmm. i hope the gooners hear of this story

by **Toffeehater** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:07 pm

Well , wenger would not spend more then 10 million

, so if rafa is interested he shud get him . The gooner fans would be so happy only for their manager to ruin their plans

by **ruskiy playmaker** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 6:48 pm

Well he can f@ck off if we're his second choice!

by **Raj_Xedos** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:18 pm

i dont think those are quite his words.....but it would be interesting to see what he did ACTUALLY say.......would our spanish lads have any influence??

by **username** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:25 pm

It was an interview in the daily 'El Pais'
This is what he really said

Would you adapt to English football as well?

- I think so. Their football is fast, counter-attacking, which is the best for my qualities. Of course it’s a different story to get there and be successful. As a fan, I like Arsenal because they play one, two touch football and they’re very good at it. And because of my mates, I like Liverpool.

He also said about he would like to have been trained by Benitez, and he is compatible with Torres

by **maypaxvobiscum** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:55 pm

so, like me, he likes to watch arsenal play cos of their football. but he seems to be more attracted to liverpool.

by **Sabre** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:53 pm

I've browsed the real quotes in El Pais and he says

P. ¿Usted también se adaptaría a Inglaterra?

R. Creo que sí. El fútbol rápido, de contragolpe, es lo que me viene mejor. Otra cosa es llegar allí y triunfar. Como espectador, me gusta el Arsenal por cómo juega a uno, dos toques, muy bien. Y por amigos, el Liverpool.

I think so. Football is fast there, counter attacking football, and that suits me well. Triumphing there is a different thing (meaning the first sentence, doesn't imply the second). As a football watcher, I like how Arsenal plays with one or two touches, they play very well. When it comes to friendships, I'd choose Liverpool.

----

So not that we're second choice, he's just announcing which teams he fancies in England and why. As you see, Manchester United doesn't impress as much as other English classic teams.

I'd love to have a Villa-Torres partnership. I really do.

He's also asked,

Would you have liked to be coached by Rafa Benitez

Yep because my teammates of Valencia and the Spanish Squad players have told me very good things about him. He makes players to learn a lot, it's a pity I haven't known him as a coach.

He also reminds that he still has a 5 year contract and a high release clause. But being Valencia out of European competitions next season, a move is more likely than ever, especially if we consider Valencia's finances need a move like that.

by **account deleted by request** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 8:58 pm

Does the partnership work for Spain Sabre? I thought they worked well together at the WC but I don't think they scored many goals?

by **JoeTerp** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:10 pm

I think it would make Aragones happy if Villa and Torres played together year round (with Reina, Arbeloa, and Alonso too) Maybe we should get Bojan too

by **zirgoz** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:50 am

It would make Arogones happy but to what extent? even if villa plays for us and we have him playing alongside torres, alonso arbeloa and reina, there is a missing link. Who? its steven gerrard! Arogones will have difficulty finding spainish player who is in the same mould as Gerrard. I say if he can find someone as good as gerrard, we could be seeing Liverpool vs Argentina/Brazil/Germany/Holland in the next world cup.

by **Sabre** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 12:16 pm

zirgoz wrote:It would make Arogones happy but to what extent? even if villa plays for us and we have him playing alongside torres, alonso arbeloa and reina, there is a missing link. Who? its steven gerrard! Arogones will have difficulty finding spainish player who is in the same mould as Gerrard. I say if he can find someone as good as gerrard, we could be seeing Liverpool vs Argentina/Brazil/Germany/Holland in the next world cup.

Aragones is chuffed with Spanish players playing in the English league.

He said so 2 days ago in a national tv program. And the fact that players like Arbeloa get into the squad when they're in Liverpool, where as players like Luis Garcia get out of the spanish squad when they come back to Spain, talks volumes about the respect Aragones has to the English league.

According to Aragones, the Spanish league is more technical, there's more skill than in the English league. But in rythm of the game he says, the English one is superior. In his opinion, players going to England is good for these players because, while they keep the skill which is permanent, they get them used to a high tempo game.

As for the Villa-Torres partnership, we're learning from it only recently, that is, since Raul has dissapeared from the starting eleven of the Spanish squad (you cannot imagine how much stick is receiving from the Madrid media for this). Spain doesn't play like in the WC any more, the tactics have changed. We used 3 midfielders, (2 on front of a holding one, generally Xabi or Albelda), with no proper wing men, and 3 upfront players, in which you could see Torres from the left.

Right now the 2 variants of the Spanish game are a classical 4-4-2, in which the first choice are Torres and Villa (note that this would be unthinkable last season, Torres has earned this only this season), and another variant with just one striker. Right now, it's unclear who'd be the first choice for this, Torres or Villa.

So, Torres and Villa havn't played together that much and when they did they didn't play under a system similar to us. We've only seen them under a 4-4-2 recently, with good results.

Villa, is a tough worker too, so he could take the kind of extra thankless work that Rafa assigns to the partner of Torres. He's direct. When strikers run with the ball there are too kind of them, the ones to drop to the wings -- Baros -- and the direct ones who always know where the net is -- Villa. He'd be a hell of a signing up.

BTW, Barcelona has rejected an offer for Henri coming from England, of about 20 M €, that's 14M pounds or something. Who might have been that club?

P.S. As for Gerrard, Aragones would have to adapt a lot of things in the way we play to fit Gerrard in it. Aragones knows that Spain struggles when we don't have the ball, so he insists on having possession. He likes players like Xabi, Iniesta and Fabregas are the most proper players for that kind of game. Gerrard would have a place in the Spanish starting eleven for sure, but not that Spain is looking for a player of Gerrard's characteristics. Spain doesn't need people in the middle and upfront right now, but a good back 4, and a quality right wing with the correct mindset (Joaquin and Navas fail in that).

by **stmichael** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 12:22 pm

He wouldn't fit into our current attacking system built around Gerrard and Torres as he isn't really a wide right player. In the Spain front 3 he plays very narrow inside right alongside Torres. They often have to bring on Joaquin to compensate and convert back to a 4-4-2 OR even sometimes substitute him. I'm not saying he doesn't perform well for Spain because he's exceptional for them, its just he may disrupt our system too much. Rafa would have turn his entire current tactical thinking to accomodate him.

Don't get me wrong, if we sign him, great, he can do a job there and WILL score goals; but will it win us the championship having a very unbalanced front line?

by **JoeTerp** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 12:23 pm

in the event that David Villa did come here, don't you think that Aragones would take a long hard look at whatever Rafa was doing before he decided to do his own thing? On the national team level, no body would be able to match the chemistry that the two would develop as a "strike partnership" because they would play together everyday at the club level (and with several other Spaniards to boot). In a way, Rafa could become the de facto team coach of La Furia Roja

by **Sabre** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 12:25 pm

You're probably right. In fact, in one of the recent chats in a training session Aragones just told Fabregas "Do the role you do at Arsenal".

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