David Villa: The key to saving Arsenal’s season

Here we are with another transfer window, and once again, Arsenal are being linked with almost every striker in the market. Today we’ll be focusing on Barcelona’s striker David Villa.

The Spanish all-time top scorer has been linked with a move to the Emirates stadium lately. It’s no surprise that Villa is looking for first team opportunities. Since his return from a broken leg, he hasn’t managed to get back his spot as a regular starter in Vilanova’s team. If the price is right, the Spanish giants might be tempted to sell Villa to clear the way for a new signing (possibly Neymar) in the summer. But the question is, should the Gunners sign Villa?

The summer signings of Podolski and Giroud are yet to prove to be clinical finishers at the top level, and so is Theo Walcott. They’re all good players, and have scored a good amount of goals this year, and don’t seem to struggle against teams who play attacking football. When the space is available for the likes of Theo and Poldolski, they score easily. The games against Reading and Newcastle are good examples.

But the problem has been against well organized defenses, who have applied ‘park the bus’ tactics. That was obvious against Aston Villa, Norwich and Southampton. They struggled to create any chances, and when they did, the strikers couldn’t finish them. What Arsenal need is a clinical finisher, a leader, a player who knows how to act in the final third. That was Van Persie’s role last year. He was more than just a striker; he was a leader, a play maker and game changer.

At the age of 31, Villa has enough experience and skill and which is exactly what Arsene Wenger’s side needs. He’s a versatile forward who can play up front and on the left wing, Wenger can use him to rotate with Walcott, Podolski and Giroud, and they can also benefit from his experience.

We saw last year how Henry, at the age of 34, won Arsenal 2 games (1-0 against Leeds in the FA cup, and 1-2 against Sunderland). The same thing happened with Drogba, who was the main reason for crowning Chelsea as champions of Europe.

Villa still has a couple of years left in him and is available for around £15 million. I think Wenger should go for it and bring the Champions League winner of 2011 to the Emirates.