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David Silva the unsung hero of the City midfield

David Nugent in Editorial, English Premier League 23 Apr 2018

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Manchester City have been on a different planet to anybody else in the Premier League for most of the campaign. One of their star players Belgian international Kevin De Bruyne was rightly considered a contender for Player of the Year award, won by Liverpool’s Egyptian star Mohamed Salah.

However, for me, Spanish attacking midfielder David Silva seems to go unnoticed in that Citizens midfield. Maybe because the likes of De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane have shined that Silva’s contribution is overshadowed.

Impressive stats this season

Silva has once again been an attacking force to be reckoned with in whatever position in the team he has played. This season the 32-year-old has scored nine top-flight goals, while also producing 11 assists. Those are impressive numbers.

If he played for another team with less special players, then maybe he would get more credit than he has for an excellent campaign. Considering that Silva has played so well for City, despite the fact that he has had to contend with his son Mateo being born prematurely back in December.

He missed a few games and thankfully the Spanish star recently posted a picture on social media of a very healthy looking Mateo, which is great news.

One of the most skilful Premier League players

I am not a City fan, but as somebody who has watched David Silva for more than a decade the level of his ability never ceases to amaze me. He may now be entering into the twilight of his career, but I will always remember the Spaniard as one of the most skilful players of the Premier League era.

He seems to have vision and passing ability that many footballers, even at the top level possess. Silva has never possessed blistering pace, but he has a decent turn of speed and his football intelligence helps the midfielder be in the right position to be effective for his team.

At City now, he has younger legs around him, but also teammates on a similar wavelength when it comes to football intelligence. The likes of De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and the massively underrated Fernandinho are all highly intelligent footballers.

Due to having all these teammates with such top ability, Silva is often underrated and underappreciated. For close to a decade, the midfielder has graced Premier League pictures. David Silva is the sort of opponent that is hard to dislike and should go down as a Premier League legend.

Could win more silverware this summer with Spain

David Silva has been part of Spain’s golden generation, winning two European Championships and also a World Cup in 2010. However, his story at international level is far from finished. Despite the former world champions having so many talented midfielders, Silva is still a vital part of Julen Lopetegui’s squad.

The City star is likely to add to his 116 caps for La Roja at Russia 2018, with Spain one of the favourites to win the World Cup at odds of 6/1.

Winning the World Cup this summer with his country would just cap a fantastic year for the midfielder. He still has plenty to look forward to off and on the pitch and despite his age, he still has a part in Pep Guardiola’s exciting project in Manchester.

While many other players get the acclaim for City’s incredible campaign, Silva characteristically gets on with his job with no fuss. David Silva the player and David Silva the man just oozes class.

The little Spanish magician has now won three Premier League titles with City and those connected with the Citizens will no doubt always love him for the contribution he has made to City’s recent successes.

Is David Silva the unsung hero at Manchester City?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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