Football

David Villa creates his perfect player: Lionel Messi’s left foot. Xavi’s vision. Andrea Pirlo’s hair

David Villa creates his perfect player: Lionel Messi’s left foot. Xavi’s vision. Andrea Pirlo’s hair

Former Barcelona striker David Villa has revealed the players that would make up his ultimate footballer.

David Villa has played alongside some of the best players in the world during his time with Catalan giants Barcelona, Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid and Spain’s 2010 World Cup winning squad.

In an interview with ESPN Villa was asked to craft every attribute of the hypothetical player, from his strongest foot to his hairstyle.

The Spaniard decided that his ultimate player would have the left foot of Lionel Messi, the right foot of Iniesta, the vision of Xavi, and the speed of Pedro, while he would also have the haircut of Andrea Pirlo. If the hypothetical player wanted to con a referee then he would also be able to summon the diving ability of Joaquin.

Villa also decided that former Barcelona centre-back Carles Puyol had the strongest mentality, Fernando Morientes was the best aerially, Atletico Madrid’s Diego Godin is the best defensively, and the most technically gifted player is Messi . NaijaBet.com

Villa was only unsure about whose ball handling skills he would like his player to have: “Goalkeeper? For me it’s the three Spanish goalkeepers I’ve played with, Pepe Reina, Victor Valdez and Casillas. The three are very rough to score on. Friends of mine, but very tough to face.”

Do Villa’s player make the grade?

Xavi, Iniesta and Messi are all Barcelona youth products.

Villa made some interesting choices when building his ultimate player, but how are they reflected by each player’s statistics?. Here is a few examples of what Villa got right and wrong. NaijaBet.com

If you were going to have anyone’s left foot then you could not have a much better one than Lionel Messi’s. The Argentine has scored 629 goals for his club and country with 80 percent of those coming from his left peg.

Xavi’s vision is another shrewd choice, as the Spaniard has created 65 assists for Barcelona, which is 10 more than Manchester United’s Paul Scholes, a player who Xavi has previously described as the best central midfielder he has ever seen. NaijaBet.com

In regards to the fastest player, Villa was not as wise as he was with his technical choices. A 2017 study by Mexican club C.F. Pachuca revealed that Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale was the fastest player with a speed of 36,90 km/h – Pedro did not make the top 10.

Finally, Pirlo’s haircut: There is no denying that the Italian had a brilliant barnet and a bountiful beard, but when it comes to haircuts and football, we often associate the two most regularly with England’s David Beckham. The former Manchester United star had a reputation across world football for his style both on and off the field. NaijaBet.com

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