‘Not having the ability to wave goodbye to our followers nonetheless hurts me. I’ll cherish their love ceaselessly’: DAVID SILVA reveals the lingering ache of his Man City farewell, his favorite moments in Manchester and the way Pep Guardiola unlocked his full potential

The man who would become Pep Guardiola’s brain in that awe-inspiring, greatest team in Premier League history leant heavily on that intelligence during a tough first day on these shores.

Tottenham at White Hart Lane, August 2010. A goalless draw. David Silva – the European Championship and World Cup winner, the man who Vicente Del Bosque would describe as Spain’s Lionel Messi – felt peripheral. Felt, looked, was.

The tanned, floppy-haired £24million signing from Valencia found himself knocked off the ball with ease. Sorry amigo, it’s rough here. Of the starters, only centre half Kolo Toure had fewer touches. No dribbles, no shots on target, no key passes. Strangely unknown, Alan Shearer repeatedly called him David Villa on Match of the Day.

It was little over four weeks since his involvement in Spain’s triumph in South Africa and Silva’s eyes were abruptly widened to English demands. He thought on it as they travelled back north and held an honest conversation with Roberto Mancini when they returned from the capital. The mind surmised one step backwards would reap its rewards.

‘I saw that the rhythm was high and strong,’ Silva says. ‘I talked with Mancini that I had to get physically fit, that I would gradually get into the games, and then that I would play when he wanted me as a starter. But I did need a little time to get 100 per cent fit. I needed to get in shape.’

Silva was never over 70kg throughout his career, a light middleweight. His slight frame was an obvious talking point in a division that had never before lionised diminutive technicians – certainly not to the extent they do now. In that respect, the little man from a Gran Canarian fishing village was a trailblazer.

Mancini phased him in; an unused substitute against Liverpool a week later, two appearances off the bench in the next couple and then he flew. His first league goal, a memorable jinking run at Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road, came after watching kit men hammer nails into pegless dressing room walls to form makeshift hangers.

Ten years later he was leaving Manchester City with a statue of himself outside the Etihad Stadium, universally revered by peers and supporters of other allegiances. Colin Bell said watching his favourite player was a ‘treat for the eyes’ and there are few who would disagree.

Only six men have recorded more assists in Premier League history, level with Mohamed Salah having played almost exactly the same number of games.

The height, the physique does not matter when you are this good, this sharp upstairs. And his aggression going the other way became a hallmark; Silva might have enjoyed freedom under Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini but animatedly discusses having to work, press defensively. Guardiola agrees with the idea that Silva is ‘a bit of a bastard’.

Guardiola wouldn’t mind being able to call on him at Wembley on Sunday. Silva lifted five League Cups, controlling the tempo of their silverware pursuits with oozing class. As Guardiola secured a first trophy – the Carabao Cup in 2018, against Arsenal no less – Silva was rolling Shkodran Mustafi and smashing in the third of a 3-0 win.

‘It’s like it takes a bit of weight off your shoulders,’ Silva says. ‘And in that sense it helped to win the next ones.’

There were plenty of those.

Silva has twice been back to City since parting ways, the last time two years ago for a 5-1 victory over Wolves en route to a fourth consecutive title. He sheepishly accepted applause while holding the hand of his son Mateo, who was born prematurely in 2017. 

Back then, Guardiola gave his playmaker all the time required, missing eight matches as City marched to a century of points. Every time he featured, Silva was magnificent.

The campus and its surroundings are constantly changing and have even altered from Silva’s last visit. The Co-op Arena wasn’t officially open then, the North Stand extension had not been announced. The facilities that Silva walked into weren’t exactly basic – City trained back-to-back with rivals Manchester United at Carrington – but not the gargantuan machine that he left and one that is only further expanding.

‘Well, it was a more family club (then), right?’ Silva says. ‘But even then, with everything that has grown, what is in the Sportcity (campus), I really continued to feel it to be like that, with very close and very familiar people.

‘I try to watch everything I can. I have two small children who sometimes don’t give me a break, but I do try. And well, I still talk with John Stones. We still talk and when they won the Treble I was very happy for him, especially after he played a spectacular match – even in midfield.’

Silva once bought Stones a commemorative book covering Spain’s international golden period across 2008, 2010 and 2012 to rub the glory in his mate’s face. That the pair of them speak on the phone is an indication that Silva’s English is and was perhaps significantly better than he would have you believe – and Stones insists the guy they called El Mago or ‘Merlin’ is hugely underrated. 

That, friends stress, is because he never bothered with raising his own profile. As if to prove that thesis, he has so far been overlooked in the Premier League’s Hall of Fame.

The Merlin moniker predates Stones by some distance, Joleon Lescott and Shaun Wright-Phillips both claiming to have come up with it. 

There are different stories of how and when that came about, ranging from the first 15 minutes of his maiden training session to a friendly in Dublin a year later – which came after a boozy pre-season trip to America that players believe formed the foundation for their title.

‘It was them, those two!’ Silva laughs. ‘I think it was after a match… we were on the bus, they said wizard and Merlin, and it stuck with me. What was important for me was that your team-mates or the people who worked with you appreciated you.

‘My team-mates really appreciated me a lot and that is something to recognise. But well, the truth is that in England people always had a lot of admiration for me, a lot of respect, and for me that was important. That’s also why I stayed for 10 years in Manchester.’

He had made the place home, too. La Bandera and El Rincon the chosen restaurants, around Deansgate. Oddly enjoyed apple porridge. Close with Fabian Delph, whom he credits massively for learning the inverted full back role during the Centurions season. Silva warmed to the people, once organising an entire trip to his homeland for Mike Summerbee.

The goodbye, though. Maybe it suited him, without fanfare, but the Etihad was empty on two final bows in the summer of 2020. A sad end, only the applause of City’s bench and the television’s canned crowd noise heard as he came off with minutes left in a win over Norwich to finish the league season. And then a cameo when beating Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 second leg, as UEFA crammed the knockout stages into a fortnight.

City went to Lisbon for a festival of football, the quarters, semis and final all played inside a week, as favourites. Silva featured for just six minutes as they lost 3-1 against unfancied Lyon. He talks about those crushing nights being learnings for the club – ‘in certain moments it didn’t happen but it was clear that sooner or later it was going to’ – yet that they didn’t achieve it with him conducting is more than just a shame.

‘They eventually managed to do it, and that’s what’s important. Whether it was a little later or took longer, that doesn’t matter.’

He stumbles over his words a little bit as he processes Lyon. He apparently left the team hotel, travelling to sign for Real Sociedad, that very night. The lowest-key farewell imaginable for a Bonafide legend.

‘In the tie I didn’t play much. But what did make me… let’s see, it made me sad not to say goodbye, you know? To say goodbye to the fans, to the people, because of Covid. Because honestly… in the 10 years I was there they gave me so much, so much affection, and the truth is that not being able to say goodbye leaves you with that little thorn stuck inside. I always feel their affection, I keep that with me.’

The feeling was and remains mutual.

The mosaic commemorating Silva’s decade stands next to a training pitch at the City Football Academy and when shown pictures of the plans, he immediately recognised it depicting his celebration at Old Trafford on that seismic day they still sing about now. The 6-1, the demolition job renowned for Mario Balotelli’s home firework display the night before. 

Silva scored the fifth but his volleyed pass for one of Edin Dzeko’s goals is one of the finest of that era; he still thinks about it now.

‘As the years pass, getting that result in the derby away goes down in history,’ he glints. ‘And on top of that, I think it was a change. The change. A change that led to City dominating English football and not United. Winning there by that number was something nobody thought about and it was practically impossible.

‘Look at 2012, winning a title like that. It doesn’t only go down in England’s history but the world. The last match, up against your rival. People still ask me about that.’

He suggests that the 2014 crown, under Pellegrini and the year of Steven Gerrard’s slip, is overlooked and when thinking back to 2019 – City tallying 98 points, Liverpool 97 – finds it difficult to imagine another rivalry of such mind-blowing quality.

He was 33 then. Club icons left annually City in Guardiola’s first years in charge as they underwent a changing of the guard. Not Silva, immortalised outside the Etihad next to Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero, soon to be joined by Kevin De Bruyne.

Guardiola, who wanted him at Barcelona, was determined to squeeze more out of the wizard. More goals, more impact, ending up hitting double figures in consecutive seasons for the only time in his career.

‘Pep insisted that I had to arrive more and score more goals, not just create play. Between midfield and their defence, playing with little space. I was closer and didn’t have to drop so deep to get the ball. Maybe sometimes in a difficult match, but generally he wanted me closer to goal.’

One night in South Wales, December 2017, encapsulated that transition. A brace against Swansea, both of them inside the six-yard box, both improvised finishes that Erling Haaland wouldn’t turn his nose up at.

Silva interjects in English. ‘I scored two but I missed one. One clear chance.’

On reviewing the footage, it was clear in fairness. But surely that doesn’t matter too much now?

‘I still remember it.’

The brain’s still whirring.

David Silva was speaking on behalf of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, whose Here for It campaign rewards devoted fans across their UEFA Europa League, Conference League and Enterprise National League partnerships