When Spain’s coach Luis Aragones decided to leave Real Madrid striker Raul out of his squad for Euro 2008 some thought he would live to regret his decision.
However, Valencia striker David Villa has stolen the headlines at the tournament after a cooly taken hat-trick in Spain’s opening 4-1 victory over Group D rivals Russia and an excellent stoppage-time goal in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Sweden.
Owen Wyatt and Pedro Redig discuss whether or not Aragones has made the right move. Our Spain correspondent Simon Baskett certainly thinks he has but what’s your view?
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6 comments so far
This is Villa’s best chance to leave Valencia, a club so beset by internal dissension and wranglings that they briefly flirted with the relegation zone this season despite having started strongly.
The question is where will he go? I suspect he will prefer to stay in Spain (Barcelona and Real Madrid are supposed to be sniffing around) but Valencia is likely to make them pay even more dearly for him than if a foreign club comes calling. He may look at what Torres has achieved at Liverpool and decide to play in the Premiership, but then, not all players settle well (remember Reyes?)
- Posted by Gonzalo @ All In WhiteRaul who? The tandem of Villa and Torres could - with their combination of speed, skill and telepathy - achieve what Raul could not - a championship for Spain. The play of the striking tandem also promises potential riches in Africa in 2010. Two young hotshots over an old one any day - and btw my name is not Arsene Wenger. Serve youth and youth will serve you.
- Posted by BeautifulgamerGuiza has all the makings of a one-season wonder (remember Javi Moreno at Alaves and then what he did at AC Milan and Atletico), well Guiza looks a similar sort of player to me.
- Posted by SimonAragones made the right choice as Raul would never sit on the bench quietly. See WC 2002.
Where Villa will land depends on the whole Cristiano Ronaldo debaucle. If CRon stays at United, then Madrid can afford Villa. If CRon goes to Madrid, then no Villa.
I agree with Simon on Guiza - a one-season wonder a la Diego Tristan may be his future. I hope not, be hasn’t been very consistent in his time in La Primera.
- Posted by Elisa@ForzaFutbolOr Dani, who went from Mallorca to Barcelona after scoring a bunch of goals and quickly went down the tubes…
- Posted by Kevin Fylanvilla n torres hav been the best partnership at euro 2008. a think guiza will be better way a bigger team. villa should move fae valencia asa they hav nt bn as consistant a when they gt 2 the champions league finals
- Posted by broadz67