David Silva

David Josué Jiménez Silva (born January 8, 1986, Arguineguin, Canary Islands) is a Spanish football player, midfielder for the Basque club Real Sociedad and ex-player of the Spanish national team. World champion (2010) and two-time European champion (2008, 2012) as part of the Spanish national team.

Silva plays an attacking role in the midfield line, he can play both on the flanks, preferring the left, as he is left-handed, and in the position of a central attacking midfielder. Silva doubles as a playmaker, often throwing shots through the net, and also completes the team's tackle himself, acting as a drawn-out second striker.

David Silva is a graduate of the Valencia football club, in whose youth game he ended up at the age of 14. In addition, as it turned out, he spent two seasons in the main game, playing at the club on loan for Eibar and Celta. After spending 150 matches in four seasons with Valencia, in 2010 Silva moved to Manchester City for more than five years and with a portion is one of the club's favorite players, with views he won the English Premier League four times, once the Football League Cup and twice the FA Cup. Since 2020, the public Spanish club "Real Sociedad".

Early years

David Silva was born on January 8, 1986 in the small town of Arguineguin in the south of Gran Canaria. His father, Fernando Jiménez, is a native of the Canary Islands, who worked as a policeman and played football at the regional level in his youth for a semi-professional team that also featured future Spain international Juan Carlos Valeron. David's mother, Eva Silva, is of Japanese descent. Due to his Asian origin, David was nicknamed "Chinese" (Spanish: El Chino) as a child.

Silva inherited his passion for football from his father, as a child he went to his father's matches and training, played with the ball outside the field and spent a lot of time playing football on the street with friends. In the children's team, Silva began to play as a goalkeeper, later became a field player. Emulating his idol Mikael Laudrup, David found his place as a winger.

At the age of 14, Silva was invited to try out at Real Madrid. He traveled a long way to the capital, held several classes, which were personally observed by the head coach of the club, Vicente del Bosque, but in the end he did not fit the team because of his small stature. A few months later, David ended up in the youth team of Valencia, after he was noticed at one of the youth tournaments. His father moved with him to Valencia and got a job as a security guard at the stadium.

Club career

"Valencia"

In 2004, there was no place for the 18-year-old Silva in Valencia, the competition was too high, and he had already outgrown the level of the second team. In order for the young football player to get playing practice, he was given a year's loan to the Spanish second division club Eibar. He fit in well with this team and played 35 matches during the season, in which he scored 5 goals. Silva spent the next season on loan again, this time with Celta, who had returned to Spain's elite division. There he was again in leading roles, playing 34 matches and scoring 4 goals in them. Celta unexpectedly took 6th place in the standings, not far behind Valencia.

After his debut season in the Example, Silva was considered a very talented and promising player. In 2006, twenty-year-old David already established himself in the main team of Valencia without any problems, replacing Pablo Aimar, who left the team. He spent his debut season as part of Valencia under the leadership of Quique Sanchez Flores at a high level, appearing in almost every match of Examples, the Spanish Cup and the Champions League. In total, Silva managed to play 49 matches during the season, in which he scored 8 goals. On June 21, 2007, he signed a new seven-year contract with his club.

Silva in action for Valencia

The 2007/2008 season for Valencia and Silva turned out to be very difficult. The team showed an extremely weak level, suffered several devastating defeats, and the new head coach Ronald Koeman clashed with the leading players of the team and, in the end, expelled Cañizares, Angulo and Albelda from it. Valencia finished in 10th place in the championship, but managed to win the Spanish Cup in April 2008, which was Silva's first club trophy in his professional career. Despite the disastrous season for the team, Silva took part in almost all the matches of the team and was one of the few players who showed a high enough level, which allowed him to go with the Spanish national team to the European Championship.

In the summer of 2008, Valencia, after a disastrous season, experienced serious financial problems, which were exacerbated by the payment of compensation to the dismissed Koeman and the cost of building a new club stadium. It was expected that some of the team's leading players, including Silva, who performed well in Spain's victorious European Championship, would move to other clubs. The clubs of the English Premier League showed the greatest interest in the footballer. It was reported that the proposal received from Manchester United was rejected by the leadership of Valencia, and the acquisition of the Spaniard by Liverpool and Tottenham was also considered. In August, David signed a new, more profitable five-year contract with his club, thereby declaring his desire to stay at Valencia.

On August 30, 2008, in the first match of the new La Liga season, Silva re-injured his left ankle. Physiotherapy did not help, and in September the football player underwent an operation, after which he recovered for three months. On January 3, 2009, making his first appearance in the main team of Valencia after an injury, Silva scored two goals against Atlético Madrid, which allowed his team to win 3-1. The Marca newspaper wrote that Silva changed the face of Valencia, and the El País edition attributed to him all the merit in the team's victory. David quickly returned to form and spent the rest of the season in the main team of Valencia. At the next surge of interest in him from other clubs in the summer of 2009, the president of Valencia, Manuel Llorente, said that Silva was not for sale. More than others, the English Liverpool sought to acquire the Spanish midfielder, offering 25 million pounds for him.

"Manchester City"

On June 30, 2010, David's move to Manchester City was announced. The transfer amount was 28.5 million euros. The contract was for five years[19]. In Manchester, Silva revealed himself in a new way, literally falling in love with the fans of the “citizens”. A couple of Tevez-Silva experts recognized as one of the most formidable in the English Premier League. In the 2011/2012 season, such masters as Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri came to City, but David not only did not get lost in this stellar company, but also began to stand out from their background, thereby receiving the title of "Best Player" in September 2011 month in the Premier League.

Silva at Manchester City (2017)

In August 2014, the football player extended his contract with Manchester City for another five years. At Manchester City, David had the status of a key player. He interacted well with the attackers, regularly creating danger at the opponent's goal. In December 2017, Silva did not participate in matches for some time due to health problems with his child: “I have a son, Mateo. He was born extremely premature and every day he fights for life with the help of doctors. On May 11, 2018, Mateo was discharged from the hospital. On June 26, 2019, Silva announced that he would leave Manchester City in the summer of 2020.

"Real Sociedad"

On August 17, 2020, as a free agent, he signed a two-year agreement with the Spanish club Real Sociedad.

International career

In 2003, at the World Championship among youth teams, David won the Bronze Ball and helped his team reach the finals. At the 2005 World Youth Championship, Silva scored four goals and helped the Spanish team reach the 1/8 finals of the tournament.

David made his debut for the Spanish national team in a friendly match against Romania on November 15, 2006. He also played in the victory against England. Having shown a good game in the first matches, Silva retained his place in the national team. In a friendly match against Greece on August 22, 2007, which ended in a 3-2 victory for the Spaniards, Silva scored 2 goals. He participated in the European Championship triumphant for the Spanish team in 2008, in the semifinal match against the Russian team, which ended 3-0 in favor of the Spaniards, scored the third goal in the 82nd minute.

Silva with Spain at Euro 2012

Silva played the qualifying matches for the 2012 European Championship with brilliance, scoring 4 goals in 7 matches played. He also made several assists. Thus, David Silva became the second scorer of the national team after David Villa in this qualifying round, beating Fernando Torres and Fernando Llorente in terms of the number of goals, who, unlike Silva, are strikers. In the final of Euro 2012, Silva scored the first goal against Italy. The match ended in favor of Spain with a score of 4:0. Also distinguished: Jordi Alba, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata.

On August 13, 2018, after the World Cup in Russia, at the age of 32, he retired from the national team.

Game characteristic

In a 4-3-3 formation with one strong striker and two attacking flank midfielders, Silva often plays the role of a winger. Although David is left-handed, he can play both on the left and on the right flank, preferring to act in an insider's manner, that is, as he approaches the opponent's goal, he moves to the center, where his high speed and good dribbling allow him to effectively operate against slower central defenders, instead of, in the traditional manner for players of this role, to carry out a breakthrough along the flank, followed by a pass or cross into the center. However, with Silva's style of play, the flank defenders have to cover the flank when David goes to the center, creating a gap in the defense.

With other playing formations where the density of the attacking line is higher (for example, when playing with two forwards or with a pronounced central attacking midfielder), the role of the flank midfielders is changing. In this case, Silva often takes a place in the center under the attackers, operating in a more compact space, but performing essentially the same functions as a dispatcher, creating opportunities for teammates to attack. David himself stated that playing in the center is preferable for him, firstly, from this position he has more opportunities to score goals himself, and secondly, he is less burdened with defensive functions that inevitably have to be performed on the flank.

Silva was among the elite playmakers in the Premier League. He was noted for his good vision of the pitch and high passing skills. In the 2011/2012 season, Silva gave 15 assists, becoming the leader of the Premier League in this indicator. In the middle of the 2013/2014 season, he was the leader in England in the number of passes made (78.94 on average per 90 minutes of playing time), while 88% of all his passes reached the addressee. In the 2013/2014 season, David had 86 scoring opportunities created for partners, only Samir Nasri did more than him at Manchester City (92).

Achievements

Command

"Valencia"

Spanish Cup Winner: 2007/08

"Manchester city"

English Champion (4): 2011/12, 2013/14, 2017/18, 2018/19

FA Cup Winner (2): 2010/11, 2018/19

FA Super Cup winner (3): 2012, 2018, 2019

Football League Cup winner (5): 2013/14, 2015/16, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20

"Real Sociedad"

Spanish Cup winner: 2019/20

Spain national team

European Champion (2): 2008, 2012

World Champion: 2010

Personal

English Premier League Player of the Month: September 2011

Premier League Assistant of the Year: 2011/12

Included in the symbolic team following the results of the European Championship 2012 according to UEFA

Member of the PFA Team of the Year (2): 2011/12, 2017/18