Atletico Madrid’s veteran striker David Villa could benefit from Alvaro Negredo’s fall from grace by being included in Vicente Del Bosque’s 23-man squad for this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.

Spain are among the favourites in the World Cup odds and have an array of attacking talent at their disposal. The 32-year-old former Valencia and Barcelona forward has a magnificent international record, having scored 56 times in 94 appearances for his country.

Villa played a key role at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups as well as during Spain’s Euro 2008 success and is his country’s all-time top goalscorer.

However, after injury forced him to sit out the entire 2011-12 campaign and Euro 2012, Villa looked set to miss out on this summer’s finals when Negredo made a brilliant start to the current campaign with Manchester City.

The 28-year-old, who helped Spain win Euro 2012, made an immediate impact on the Premier League following last summer’s transfer from Sevilla, scoring 23 goals in all competitions for City before the end of January.

Negredo grabbed hat-tricks against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League and West Ham United in the Capital One Cup, but has not found the net since grabbing a brace against the Hammers on 21st January.

Manuel Pellegrini has left Negredo out of his starting line-up of late and it is now thought that the wily Del Bosque may opt to include the experienced Villa in his final squad rather than the inconsistent Manchester City star.

Meanwhile, Villa’s Atletico Madrid team-mate, Diego Costa, appears to be a certain starter when the World Cup action gets underway in June, after opting to change his allegiance from Brazil to Spain.

Atletico’s top goalscorer this season is yet to make his competitive debut with La Roja but is certain to be on the plane to Brazil after helping his club reach the Champions League final and challenge for the La Liga title this term.

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