david silva

David Josué Jiménez Silva (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈβið xoˈswe xiˈmeneθ ˈsilβa]) (born 8 January 1986) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Manchester City and the Spanish national team. Silva is capable of playing on the wing, as a traditional number 10 and sometimes as a supporting striker. A Spanish international since the age of 20 with over fifty caps, he was a member of the squads that won both the Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup.
He spent six years of his professional career with Valencia CF, appearing in more than 150 games and winning one Copa del Rey, before moving in 2010 to Manchester City. Since joining City, his consistently excellent performances have earned the nickname "Merlin" from his English teammates, Adam Johnson and Micah Richards.

Silva was born in Arguineguín, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands to Fernando Jiménez, a former municipal police officer who eventually was responsible for the safety of the Valencia CF stadium, and Eva Silva. His father, Fernando, is Canarian while his mother, Eva, is of Japanese descent, confirmed in an interview by his family members to the Canarian media.^[2][3] Silva has two younger siblings, sister Natalia and brother Nando. He is commonly called by the nickname "Chino" (Spanish for "Chinese") due to his physical appearance.
Silva began playing football in the youth team of UD San Fernando, near Maspalomas. Originally he played as a goalkeeper, before becoming a winger^[4] and mirrored his game around his footballing idol as a youth, Michael Laudrup.^[4] When he was 14, he received an offer to become a youth player at Valencia CF, which he accepted. He stayed in Valencia's youth set-up until he was 17.

Club career

David Silva playing for Valencia

Valencia

Silva made his professional début in 2004–05, with Segunda División's SD Eibar, while on loan from Valencia, playing 35 league games and scoring on five occasions. In the following season, he was again out on loan, this time to Celta de Vigo, where he played 34 matches, scoring four goals. After two late substitute appearances, the first in a 2–0 home win over Málaga CF on 28 August 2005, Silva finished as an undisputed starter as the Galician side reached the UEFA Cup straight from the second-tier.
Silva returned to Valencia in the summer of 2006, becoming an automatic first-choice despite his young age (20). In two seasons combined, he only missed six matches and netted 14 goals (his first coming on 5 November 2006 in a 1–1 draw at RCD Espanyol). In August 2008, he extended his contract by five years, amidst interest of several Premier League teams.^[5]
After not appearing in the first three months of 2008–09 due to a chronic ankle ailment,^[6] Silva returned to the call-ups in mid-December. On 3 January 2009, he scored twice in a 3–1 home win over Atlético Madrid,^[7] still contributing with 19 matches (four goals) as the Che qualified for the Europa League.
In the 2009–10 season, Silva scored a career-best eight goals, as Valencia finished in third position and returned to the UEFA Champions League. On 15 April 2010, he scored a brace against Athletic Bilbao for a 2–0 home win,^[8] adding three assists in the 4–4 thriller at SV Werder Bremen, for the Europa League's round of 16.^[9]

Manchester City

2010–11

David Silva pictured playing for Manchester City in April 2011.

On 30 June 2010, Manchester City announced that they had reached an agreement with Valencia CF over the transfer of Silva and that he would join the club on a four-year deal, prior to the start of the 2010–11 season.^[10] On 14 July, the Premier League side completed the signing^[11] and Silva was awarded the number 21 shirt, the same number he wore for Valencia and when playing for Spain. Manchester City had previously tried to sign Silva and his Valencia team-mate David Villa in 2008, but were put off when Valencia quoted a £135m combined price tag on both players.^[12]
City manager Roberto Mancini mainly deployed Silva as a winger^[13] and later in a trequartista role in his first season.^[14] Silva made his Premier League début on 14 August 2010, in a 0–0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.^[15] He scored his first goal for the club on 16 September, eight minutes into the Europa League group match against FC Red Bull Salzburg.^[16] On 17 October, he scored his first league goal in a game against Blackpool, netting City's third goal in a 3–2 away win.^[17] In a 3-1 home win in the Europa League against Lech Poznań, he set up two goals for Emmanuel Adebayor.^[18] He made another assist slipping through Adam Johnson for Manchester City's third in a 3–1 away win against West Ham United.^[19] Erroneous media reports emerged suggesting Silva could return to Spain and cited homesickness and difficulty to adapt to the English game.^[20] His performances however impressed Manchester City supporters and won three Player of the Month awards from Manchester City in a row for October, November and December in 2010.^[21]
On 12 February 2011, he was credited for the equalising goal in the 2–1 loss to rivals Manchester United when an Edin Džeko shot deflected off his back and into the net. On 2 March, he scored from twenty yards out in an FA Cup win (3–0) against Aston Villa. Three days later, he scored the only goal in Manchester City's win against Wigan Athletic. Silva netted the third goal in City's 5–0 rout of Sunderland on 3 April. On 25 April 2011, he started the game against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park and was replaced on 90 minutes by Dedryck Boyata in the 1-0 win for City. His assist to Yaya Toure against Everton at Goodison Park took Silva to 15 assists in all competitions for the season.^[22] Following his debut season in the Barclays Premier League, Silva has emerged as one of the league's finest playmakers. Carlos Tévez lauded him as "The best signing we (Manchester City) have made".^[23]

2011–12

Silva began the 2011–12 season in fine form, scoring the third goal in City's 4–0 thrashing of Swansea City^[24] and was voted man of the match. Silva also scored the following week against Bolton Wanderers, and was named man of the match.^[25] Silva then set up two of Sergio Agüero's three goals in city's second home game against Wigan Athletic, after another magnificent display from Silva, Roberto Mancini compared Silva to fellow Spain internationals Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta and said that Silva is "One of the best players in the world".^[26] On 1 October Silva was awarded the Premier League Player of the Month for his outstanding performances and making it the first time ever that two Manchester City players have won the award in back to back months with Edin Džeko winning it the month before.
In the first Manchester Derby of the season at Old Trafford, Manchester City won 6–1, with Silva proving, yet again, to be instrumental in the Manchester City attack, scoring the fifth goal and setting up Edin Džeko's second with a chested volley pass through the United defence.^[27] On 25 October 2011, in a interview with a Spanish radio station, Silva revealed that he turned down FC Barcelona and Real Madrid so he could sign for Manchester City and that he wants to stay at the club for years. He commented "Madrid and Barcelona are great teams, but I'm happy here and I would like to stay here for many years".^[28] Former City and England defender Earl Barrett said he is almost impossible to stop due to his ability to create space^[29] and Andy Cole, who mostly played for City rivals, Manchester United, has stated that Silva "is a joy to watch".^[30] On 5 November 2011, Silva scored his 4th goal against QPR. On 18 December, David Silva scored his 5th goal of the season against Arsenal, the game finishing 1–0 to Manchester City.^[31]

International career

Silva has won both a European Football Championship and World Cup, as pictured here in 2010

Silva first represented Spain in the 2003 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Finland, scoring three goals. In 2006, he became an under-21 international and scored four goals during the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship; this was enough to earn him joint-fourth place in the goal ranking, alongside Italian striker Graziano Pellè.
Silva made his senior international début in the 1–0 friendly home defeat to Romania on 15 November 2006, and continued to receive call-ups to the side after good contributions in his first games. On 22 August 2007, he scored his first two goals for Spain, netting twice in a 3–2 friendly win versus Greece, and was then called-up to the squad of 23 for UEFA Euro 2008.
In the semi-finals game versus Russia, Silva scored the third goal for Spain after a quick counter-attack in which Fàbregas delivered a low cross, and he sent the ball into Igor Akinfeev's goal with his left foot.^[32] In the final, he was involved in an incident with Germany's Lukas Podolski. After he pulled Podolski to the ground, the German approached Silva, which resulted in an angry exchange of words and a coming together of heads that the referee decided not to punish. Shortly afterward, Spanish coach Luis Aragonés substituted Silva for Santi Cazorla in an attempt to calm the tensions.^[33]
After appearing regularly during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification stages – Spain won all ten fixtures – Silva was also picked for the squad for the finals in South Africa. His participation would be however a small one, as the national team won the tournament: he started in the first match, a 0–1 group stage defeat against Switzerland, then played the last four minutes of the 1–0 win against Germany in the semifinals.
On 11 August 2010, during an international friendly with Mexico, Silva scored two minutes into second-half injury time, ending the game with a 1–1 draw.^[34] In a Euro 2012 qualifier against Liechtenstein on 3 September 2010, Silva scored after 62 minutes, in a 4–0 away win.^[35] The following month, in the same competition, he scored through a rare header, as the national team downed Lithuania in Salamanca (3–1).
In Spain's first match for 2011, a friendly against Colombia on Feb 9, he came off the bench to score the game's only goal with just four minutes remaining, helping Spain to a hard-fought 1-0 win.^[36] He scored twice and provided 1 assist in Spain's 3-1 victory against Scotland in their final match of the Euro 2012 qualifiers. The win saw the Spaniards enter the tournament with a perfect qualifying record by winning all their group games.^[37] He scored the 1st goal in Spain's 2-2 comeback against Costa Rica; a friendly match where he came on as a sub in the 2nd half with Spain trailing 2-0.^[38] He once again scored in Spain's first friendly of 2012 against Venezuela to make the scored 2-0, in a match that ended in a 5-0 win.