Spanish and Manchester City attacking midfielder David Silva has been chosen as our next Player of the Day. He had a magnificent last season with Manchester City, making a huge contribution to Manchester City’s first Premier League Title since 1968, and to top it off, he won the Euros with Spain towards the end of his 2011-2012 campaign, making it quite an incredible season for the 26 year-old.
Silva started his football career with Valencia, in the 2003-2004 season, he played for the Valencia B team, at the age of just 17. Silva managed to make 14 appearances for the B team, scoring just 1 goal. With quite a quiet first season for Silva, he was loaned out for the next to Spanish club side SD Eibar. At the time, Eibar played in the Segunda Division, which seemed suitable for such a talented 18 year-old.
Throughout the season Silva made 35 appearances, scored 5 goals and made 7 assists.
In the following season, David Silva was loaned out again from Valencia, as they were trying to develop him as a player through lower clubs since he was still only 19. He was loaned out to another Spanish side called Celta de Vigo, who had just been promoted back into the La Liga, so it was a step up from last season for Silva as he would be playing much more difficult clubs. Silva had a good season with Celta de Vigo, helping them come 6th in the League table, after only just being promoted.
Silva made 34 appearances for the club side, scoring 4 goals and 4 assists.
After spending two seasons on loan, Silva was finally given a chance to play for the Valencia senior team. When he returned in the summer of 2006, Silva was made a first-choice player for Valencia right from the star of the season, despite only being 20 years-old. The young Spaniard scored his first goal for Valencia on the 5th November 2006 against Espanyol, the match finished 1-1. From 2006-2008 Silva was improving every game, making 94 appearances, 14 goals and 18 assists in two seasons for Valencia. In the 2008-2009 season, David Silva extended his contract with Valencia for another 5 years. At the start of that season, Silva had an ankle injury which ruled him out for the first 3 months. But he came back fighting, and helped Valencia to come 6th in the La Liga.
In the next and final season at Valencia, Silva and David Villa were a deadly partnership for the club side; Silva made a career best, scoring 10 goals in all competitions that season, whilst David Villa scored 28 much to the help of David Silva. In a Europa League match against German club side Werder Bremen, Silva made his best performance of his career to that date with Valencia, tallying 3 assists for himself in the match that ended 4-4. Silva and Villa’s partnership helped Valencia back into Champions League qualification as they finished 3rd in the La Liga.
Manchester city signed a 4 year deal with David Silva on the 30th June 2010, Man City had tried to buy Silva back in 2008 as well as David Villa, but Valencia would only sell them for a combined price of £135 million which City weren’t willing to pay. Silva made his premier league debut on the 14th August 2010 against Tottenham Hotspur, the match finished 0-0 but it was a positive start to the season for Roberto Mancini’s side. City tried to play Silva into more of a winger position than an central attacking midfielder, which seemed to work as his performances were improving. Silva scored his first league goal against Blackpool on the 17th October 2010, in a 3-2 away win. Silva was throughout the season developing into one of the best playmakers in the league, and towards the end of the season played a key role in Man City’s FA Cup success over Stoke City. At the end of the season, Argentina and Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez described David Silva as the best signing Man City have made. Silva made 53 appearances in all competitions that season, scoring 6 goals and making 15 assists.
Silva started the 2011-2012 season with a man of the match performance against Swansea City in a 4-0 win. After a few brilliant performances at the beginning of the season, Mancini compared him in a interview to the likes of Andres Iniesta and Xavi, he then called Silva one of the best players in the world. Silva would go on through the rest of the season playing some magnificent football, including a good performance against Manchester United, contributing to their 6-1 over their rivals by scoring and making a goal. Silva unsurprisingly had the most assists over any other player in the league last season, making 17 goals for his teammates; he really was the best playmaker in the league. Silva’s 17 assists proved to be crucial to Man City’s first Premier League title since 1968, and got him a place in the PFA Team of the Year alongside 4 other Man City team-mates.
Silva’s international career so far is really quite incredible, with 2 European Championships and a World Cup under his belt, he has featured in the starting 11 for what is now being called by pundits one of the best international teams in the history of football. His international career started with the Spain U-16s squad, he progressed through the rankings as he got older of U-17s, U-19s, U-20s, and U21s. Silva featured in the U-17 World Cup in 2003, Spain didn’t win the tournament but Silva did score 3 goals throughout the competition. Silva’s next international tournament would be in 2005 when he played for Spain’s U-21s squad, in the World Youth Championship, in which Silva scored 4 goals for his country. David Silva made his debut for the senior team against Romania in a shock 1-0 defeat on the 15th November 2006. Silva’s impressive performances on the pitch for Spain and Valencia meant he was picked commonly for the senior team, and in August 2007 he scored his first goal, followed shortly by a second in a 3-2 win against Greece. His hard work on the pitch had paid of as he was called up for the 23-man squad to play in the 2008 Euros. Spain won the Euros, beating Russia in the semi finals in which Silva scored Spain’s 3rd goal of the game. Spain then beat Germany 1-0 in the final after a goal from former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres.
Silva continued to impress after the Euros, being regularly called up for the Spain squad in the qualifying matches for the World Cup, Spain played 10 qualifying matches, and won all 10 comfortably. Because of Silva’s performances for Spain he was called up for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but only made 2 appearances throughout the tournament, against Switzerland in the group stages with a shock 1-0 defeat. And Silva came on as a substitute against Germany for the final few minutes of the semi finals. But for Silva he mainly watched his team’s World Cup success from the bench.
Despite Silva’s poor World Cup he went back to being regularly picked for Spain, and helped his international side qualify for the Euros in 2012. After Spain qualified for the Euro’s Silva was called up again but this time played more frequently than he did at the World Cup, with 2 goals and 3 assists in the tournament he had the best efficiency for his side than any other player in the tournament. In the final of the Euros David Silva headed home the opening goal of the game for Spain against Italy, the final would finish 4-0 to Spain, winning Silva his 2nd European Championship. Because of his efficiency for Spain he alongside many other team-mates were named in the UEFA 23 man Team of the Tournament.
Silva has made 64 appearances and scored 18 goals for his international side.
Source: DSG
