David Villa was one of the most effective strikers of his generation. He scored goals all across his home country of Spain, including with FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Valencia. In the summer of 2014, he announced his departure from Atletico. Soon after, he became the first ever signing in NYCFC history. Since NYCFC's inaugural season wasn't until 2015, he went on loan to Melbourne City to stay fit. No. 7 was named NYCFC's captain and their first Designated Player. In the first ever New York City FC home game at Yankee Stadium, Villa opened his account against New England off a one-two.
The flood gates were wide open from that point on. Villa scored his first MLS brace in a road match at BMO Field. Two matches later, he scored another double on the road in Canada once again, this time in Montreal. It included a lovely free kick into the bottom right corner. In the very next game, he terrorized TFC with two goals in a match again. Two games later, Villa added another duo of goals whilst hosting Orlando City. When the dust settled, Villa had scored four braces in just six matches. The Spaniard scored his 18th goal of the year on Decision Day against New England, bookending the season with goals against the Revs. The inaugural season for the Bronx side earned an eighth place finish, which was not enough to qualify for the postseason. Villa made the 2015 All-Star team and won the Goal of the Year Award.
In 2016, David Villa was simply unstoppable. His contributions not only brought NYCFC to the playoffs for the very first time, but also pulled them all the way up to second place in the East. He opened his account with his third career brace against Toronto FC, in the second match of the season. Despite losing to the Crew, he scored another brace against them in April, including a clean header. Once he scored two more versus Vancouver a handful of matches later, he was seemingly scoring braces more often than he was scoring a single goal in games. He beat the Whitecaps with a pretty flying volley. He did begin scoring more consistently, with one goal in 5 of his 7 next games. In September, it was back-to-back braces, the latter against the Houston Dynamo, where Villa smashed a strike in with velocity. Even though Villa was red hot headed into the playoffs, the matchup with Toronto FC was a tough one. TFC got their revenge on Villa's NYCFC, winning without conceding a goal. Villa was still named the 2016 MLS MVP. He also made the All-Star team and Best XI.
A 23-goal season in 2016 was hard to beat, but Villa nearly did it with 22 more in 2017. Those numbers earned him spots back on the Best XI and All-Star Team. He also won the 2017 ESPY for Best MLS Player. For the third consecutive season, Villa scored his first goal(s) of the year in the second match of the campaign. It was a brace and assist against DC United, lifting a left footed shot over Bill Hamid. He scored in four straight games, the last a curler off the post and in during a win over Atlanta United. At the outset of the summer, he scored in another four consecutive matches, finishing that streak with a volley from outside the box against Chicago. On August 6th, he lit up the Hudson River Derby for his first MLS hat trick. He rounded Luis Robles for the first goal. He smashed the second one in a the near post, before rolling a penalty in for three. His Decision Day double drew the Crew 2-2. The Pigeons were set to face that same Columbus team in the playoffs as well. He scored the lone NYC goal with impressive body control during a 4-1 first leg loss. In leg two, he scored again and won 2-0, but the climb back was too steep.
David Villa entered his fourth and final Major League Soccer season in 2018. In said season, he scored another 14 goals, a great number, and yet his lowest ever tally in a season. Interestingly, he never scored a goal in the first game of a season, but he did score in the following match in all four of his campaigns. He did so in a 2-1 home win over the LA Galaxy. He scored his first double in a victory over FC Dallas, including a composed finish. He contributed half the goals in a 4-0 beatdown of Colorado. He planted his signature finesse shot into the bottom right of Tim Howard's net. Villa got hot at the right time, scoring a goal in each of the final three matches of the MLS regular season. On Deicison Day, he poked one past the Philadelphia Union. The reward for the third seed in the East was a rematch with Philly. NYCFC dominated the postseason matchup with a 3-1 win and a Villa goal, an identical result to the previous game. NYCFC moved on to play Atlanta United, but the Five Stripes were too much to handle. They won 4-1 on aggregate, as Villa's NYCFC career ended at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
David Villa's final numbers in MLS play read 77 goals and 26 assists in just 117 total matches, an incredibly efficient career. He kickstarted the growing franchise from New York City. In 2021, the team went onto win MLS Cup, the first of the young club's career. During Villa's time in New York, he hit the 400-goal mark in his career, a feat that only five other active players had reached at the time. After his departure from the club, he made one last move, to Vissel Kobe of the J1 League in Japan. The legendary Spanish striker retired after the 2019 season. David Villa's incredible four years in sky blue and constant production for NYCFC places him at #7.
YEAR | CLUB | MINUTES | GOALS | ASSISTS |
2018 | NYC | 1,754 | 14 | 5 |
2017 | NYC | 2,556 | 22 | 9 |
2016 | NYC | 2,869 | 23 | 4 |
2015 | NYC | 2,514 | 18 | 8 |
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