originally i didn't see how villa could not fit into the barca side with ibra around. i mean, ibra could play as the centre forward, with messi and villa playing off ibra either side of him. as everyone saw at south africa 2010, the 2 games villa drew a blank was when he was deployed as the centre forward, while all his goals came when he was playing on the left, just off torres, who had to shoulder the burden of tanking everything two lumbering centre backs could throw at home. of course he floundered. with the exception of klose, the centre forwards of teams that played 4-2-3-1 at the wc had generally disappointing tournaments; klose only did well because he was in a team that played on the counter-attack, as opposed to holland and spain.

anyway back to villa. now that ibra's gone to milan, he would have to play as the centre forward, and god bless him if he is going to succeed. now that he's there, there's a hole on his left, which he plugged for 2 months in the aftermath of henry's departure. and i would love to see arshavin take his place there.

there's no doubt that arshavin's a brilliant footballer, his only flaw's that he tends to drift in and out of games rather than dominate them. with a side like barca, their domination ensures that you will be given opportunity after opportunity to stamp your mark on the game, something that arshavin will surely take advantage. so arshavin should go to barca and let poor iniesta retreat back into midfield, gifted and versatile he may be.

arshavin's love for barca is an open secret (barca was his preferred destination when he sought to leave zenit, and its even listed in FM!). a stumbling block could be barca's precarious bank account, but ibra's departure could have addressed that, and of course barca's fractious relationship with arsenal, in their disgraceful pursuit of fabregas over the summer.

ok back to work.