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Report: Villa would train with Man City ahead of potential NYCFC move

DavidVillaAtleticoMadrid1-RealSociedad (Getty)

By TIM FONTENAULT

Atletico Madrid striker David Villa would train with Premier League champions Manchester City until February if he signs with New York City FC, according to Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Villa has been linked to NYCFC, which will begin play in Major League Soccer next season, for several days, and a move appears to be imminent. The report also adds that Villa will have time to settle his family in the U.S. before he joins NYCFC for their inaugural season.

Manchester City co-owns the expansion club with Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees, which would explain the reason for the striker training in England until MLS camps open. The deal is not yet done, however, and according to reports in Australia, Villa could still join NYCFC’s sister club, A-League side Melbourne Hearts, which is also owned by Manchester City.

If this report is true, Villa would be risking significant time off the field ahead of the move, as he would be training, but after the 2014 UEFA Champions League Final, his next club appearance would be in March, when NYCFC begins its first MLS season.

Villa scored 13 goals in 30 matches for the La Liga champions during his first season at the club after a move from FC Barcelona. He has spent his entire career in Spain, having also played for Valencia, Real Zaragoza and Sporting Gijon. The 32 year old has 223 goals in La Liga in 426 matches.

The Spanish striker is preparing for this summer’s World Cup with the reigning champions. Villa is Spain’s all-time leading scorer with 56 goals in 94 caps. The next closest active player is Fernando Torres, who is third all time with 36 goals in 106 caps.

NYCFC’s first manager, former Real Salt Lake boss Jason Kreis, has been in Manchester since last January preparing for his new role.

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What do you think of this report? Do you believe that Villa would be okay without playing regularly for a long period? Do you think that Villa will sign in New York?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Reports in England say Lampard is also getting a physical in Manchester ahead of a move to NYCFC.

    This team is starting to take shape.

    We already know that NYCFC will get 4 players on loan from the MCFC youth system, a first or second overall draft pick, and they have Jason Kreis (The hardest working coach in the league and very high quality coach at that too.)…This team is shaping up nice. I wonder who the final DP will be. Michael DiMichelis has stated he wants to play for NYCFC, maybe it’ll be him?

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  2. It would be a great get for NYCFC. Villa is still a top player (good amount of goals for runner up CL, plays for Spain, enough said).

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  3. Ugh…it shouldn’t bother me, and I hate to be that guy, but it is Melbourne Heart, not Hearts. That’s all I can see when I look at this and it is driving me crazy!

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  4. Make it official MLS 🙂
    By the way, have red bull and galaxy lost the DP love.
    Galaxy has Barbie Donovan for life, keane which he worth the money and Gonzalez who is not suppose to be in MLS but Europe.
    The red bull, Thierry which is worth the money, Cahill a failed experiment, and no 3 DP because of their wussy coach that can not handle top soccer talent.
    However, it’s going to be very interesting if nycfc and Orlando get what they want and markets like Chicago can’t get nothing. Imagine Miami, having ronaldinho, casillas, Rooney omg 🙂 mouth craving

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      • No, the emoticons destroyed the credibility.
        Plus no one is spending DP money until after WC unless they were in a position like TFC was.

    • Cahill a failed experiment? I know people say a lot of dumb things in these comments, but that’s on another level.

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      • He is just saying what Taylor Twellmen said for a year.

        We all know he went off in the second half of the year. Almost putting together an MVP season

    • Supposed to be in Europe?…Euroclowns were the first to call for his head head after a couple of mistakes in US wins.

      Captain America is now Barbie…thanks Euros

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  5. NYCFC should just sign him and then loan him to another team. Training with man city is not a good substitute for game time, unless he can perhaps get game time in cup matches or early round champs league against weaker teams.

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  6. Why don’t have him play for Man City instead of just training with them until January and then either transfer him or loan him to NYFC. Aguerro is pretty much injured every other game.

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  7. Terrific liga strike rate – basically a goal in every other league match + a few extra. Guessing that is right up there with the best in the highest rated professional leagues (BPL, Germany, Spain)…

    Wonder how this compares to other top strikers in his generation; who in SBI community can bring some quant nuggets to this?

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  8. Villa has been linked to NYCFC, which will begin play in Major League Soccer next season, for several days, and a move appears to be imminent.

    Correct version: Villa has been linked for several days to NYCFC, which will begin play in Major League Soccer next season, and a move appears to be imminent.

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    • I can’t imagine they’d leave a player that good but with some miles on him, just sitting around until next MLS season. Either City or Heart on loan until MLS preseason makes sense.

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  9. He’d be back with his buddy, David Silva. Watching them at Valencia was a thing of beauty. Also, why not go on loan until the season starts. Maybe get some minutes with Man City?

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    • I’ve followed Valencia a bit since visiting the city before the 2006 WC. To think of all the awesome players they’ve lost due to their financial struggles…Villa, Mata, Silva…that could have been a heckuva squad.

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      • That’s because their fans do not pour money into their team’s coffers like Barca and Real fans do. Valencia are a stingy contingent of fans I must say, after visiting the city prior to the 2006 WC.

    • I don’t know, 13 goals in 30 games. His production is down. He’s 32. This is the kind of player not worth a DP in my mind. He can still get a top salary or 4-600K or whatever it is. But a DP millions and millions – not sure it’s worth it. Of course MCFC has the money so who cares.

      Reply
      • He just started in a CL final and is on the roster for the arguable the best soccer nat’l team in the world. Yeah he is worth a DP slot.

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