Emanuel Alejandro Villa (born 24 February 1982) is an Argentine former professional footballer. He is a Mexican naturalized citizen.
He previously played for Huracán, Atlético Rafaela and Rosario Central in Argentina; Derby County in England; and Atlas, Tecos, Cruz Azul, Pumas UNAM, Tigres UANL and Querétaro in Mexico.
Career
Early career in Argentina and Mexico
Villa started his career at Club Atlético Huracán in the Primera Division Argentina in 2001. In 2003, he was transferred to Atlético Rafaela but the club were relegated at the end of the 2003–2004 season after a losing a playoff with Huracán de Tres Arroyos.
After the disappointment of relegation with Rafaela, Villa returned to the Primera the following season by joining Rosario Central. In 2006, he was signed by Atlas in Guadalajara. Villa stayed in Guadalajara, after he was transferred to Tecos UAG for the Clausura 2007 tournament.
Derby County
Villa signed for Premier League side Derby County on 4 January 2008 in a £2million deal. The move proved to be a controversial one as César Luis Menotti, then coach of Tecos, was not informed of Villa being sold. Villa signed a -year contract with the Rams and made his debut in a 1–0 home defeat against Wigan Athletic. He scored his first goal on 2 February 2008, with a last minute headed equaliser from a Dean Leacock cross, in a 1–1 draw away at Birmingham City. His first home goals came with a brace in a 2–2 draw with Fulham on 29 March 2008. His first a deflection from a Dean Leacock shot, his second a header after Mile Sterjovski crossed. However, a draw was not enough to help Derby survive relegation. It was the earliest a team had been relegated from the Premier League.
Villa's first goal of the 08/09 season came against QPR as a substitute in a 2–0 away victory. On Sunday 2 November 2008, Villa scored an own-goal against Nottingham Forest, but exactly 10 minutes 12 seconds later Villa scored again, this time in the right goal, the game ended 1–1. Two days later Villa scored his first hat-trick for Derby; in a League Cup game against Brighton, becoming only the third player in 10 years to score three goals in one game for Derby. In the fourth round of the League Cup he scored again to claim his sixth goal of the season this time against Leeds United. Derby won the match 2–1 to book themselves in the quarter-finals on the competition. Despite this, Villa could not command a regular position in the Derby County line-up and, after Jewell was replaced by Nigel Clough he was deemed surplus to requirements, and revealed his desire to return to Mexico due to his wife's homesickness. He left Derby for £1.7 million. He made 53 appearances and scored 9 goals for The Rams.
Return to Mexico
On 30 June 2009 he was linked with a move to Mexican club Cruz Azul . and on 1 July it was revealed that a fee rumoured to be of £1.7m had been agreed for Villa, and he signed for the club on 2 July 2009.
Villa enjoyed a successful start to his Cruz Azul career, his first goals of the Mexico Apertura season came in a 3–0 win at Pumas UNAM and a brace in a 2–0 win over CF Monterrey. His first goal in the 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League came in a 6–2 away victory at Herdiano.
On 22 August Villa played his first Mexico City Derby match "Clasico Joven", between Cruz Azul and Club America, the match ended 2–3 in favor of the visitors, but "Tito" scored the partial 1–1, at the 41 minutes, then easily put away the goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa to score his 5th goal in 5 matches during his first season as a Cruz Azul player.
Villa scored four goals on 19 September 2009, in a game Cruz Azul won 4–2, over "Gladiadores" de San Luis. This was the first time he scored more than three goals in a game, the first three being for Derby County in a League Cup match against Brighton & Hove Albion.. After this game he has 10 goals in the tournament, and averages 1.1 goals per match. Villa scored 2 more goals against Atlante F.C. making him the leader of the Apertura 2009 with 13 goals. On 7 November, he scored another couple of goals against Puebla FC with a 4–0 score, and in another match against Pachuca he scored once, having now 19 goals, above other players as Miguel Sabah, Salvador Cabañas, Humberto Suazo, Héctor Mancilla and Javier Hernández
Villa scored his first goal in el torneo Bicentenario against his former team Atlas in a 3–1 win. He then began his goal streak scoring in the next game against San Luis in a 2–1 win. He then scored his first pair against Toluca in a 3–2 win.