Factbox on Spain striker David Villa, who joined Barcelona from Valencia for 40 million euros on Wednesday:
Born: December 3, 1981 in Tuilla, Spain
EARLY DAYS
* After starting out with local team Langreo, joined Sporting Gijon's youth academy aged 17. Scored 38 goals in 79 first-team appearances in the 2001/02 and 2002/03 seasons in the second division.
* La Liga club Real Zaragoza bought him for around 3 million euros ($3.7 million) in 2003 and he scored 31 goals in 73 league appearances over the next two seasons.
* Scored a penalty to help Zaragoza win the King's Cup final in 2004 when they upset Real Madrid 3-2.
VALENCIA SUCCESS
* Valencia bought him out of his contract with Zaragoza for 12 million euros in 2005 and he netted 25 goals in his first season to finish one behind league top scorer Samuel Eto'o.
* Won the King's Cup with Valencia in 2008 after a 3-1 final victory over Getafe. In August, Valencia rejected a 40 million euro approach from Real and extended his contract to 2014.
* Scored 21 league goals for Valencia in the campaign just ended, finishing fourth on the scoring chart behind Lionel Messi (34), Gonzalo Higuain (27) and Cristiano Ronaldo (26).
INTERNATIONAL CAPS
* Won his first international cap for Spain in a World Cup qualifier against San Marino on February 9, 2005.
* Scored three goals in the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany when Spain were knocked out by France at the last 16 stage.
* Was tournament top scorer at Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland with four goals, but missed Spain's 1-0 final victory over Germany due to injury.
* Has become Spain's second highest scorer behind Raul (44) with 36 goals from 55 matches.
