David Silva

David Silva

Personal information
Full name	David Josué Jiménez Silva
Date of birth	8 January 1986 (1986-01-08) (age 25)
Place of birth	Arguineguín, Spain
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing position	Midfielder / Winger
Club information
Current club	Manchester City
Number	21
Youth career
	UD San Fernando
2000–2003	Valencia
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2003–2004	Valencia B	14	(1)
2004–2010	Valencia	119	(21)
2004–2005	→ Eibar (loan)	35	(5)
2005–2006	→ Celta Vigo (loan)	34	(4)
2010–	Manchester City	2	(0)
National team‡
2002–2003	Spain U17	20	(5)
2004–2005	Spain U19	14	(5)
2005	Spain U20	5	(4)
2004–2006	Spain U21	9	(7)
2006–	Spain	40	(9)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:37, 29 August 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:00, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

David Josué Jiménez Silva (Spanish pronunciation: [daˈβið ˈsilβa]; born 8 January 1986) is a Spanish footballer who currently 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. He spent six years of his professional career with La Liga side Valencia CF where he won the Copa del Rey in the 2007–08 season, before moving to Manchester City.

Having represented Spain at youth level, he made his début for the senior squad in 2006 and has since played at Euro 2008 and 2010 FIFA World Cup, which were eventually won by Spain.

Childhood and early career

Silva was born in Arguineguín, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands to Fernando Jiménez, a former municipal police officer and currently responsible for the safety of the Valencia CF stadium, and Eva Silva. His father is Canarian and his mother is of Asian descent. He has two younger siblings, sister Natalia and brother Nano.

Silva began playing football in the youth team of UD San Fernando, near Maspalomas.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

Valencia

Silva made his professional début in 2004–05, with Segunda División's SD Eibar, on loan from Valencia, playing 35 league games and scoring on five occasions. In the following season, he was again loaned, 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 2006 summer, proceeding to become an automatic first-choice despite his young age (20). In two seasons combined, he only missed six matches while netting 14 goals (his first coming on 5 November 2006 in a 1–1 draw at RCD Espanyol). In August 2008, he prolonged his link a further five years, amidst interest of several Premier League teams.^[1]

After not having appeared in the first three months of 2008–09 due to a chronic ankle ailment,^[2] Silva returned to the call-ups in mid-December. On 3 January 2009, he scored twice in a 3–1 home win over Atlético de Madrid,^[3] 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,^[4] adding three assists in the 4–4 thriller at SV Werder Bremen, for the Europa League's round of 16.^[5]

Manchester City

On 30 June 2010, Manchester City announced that they had reached an agreement with Valencia 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.^[6][7] On 14 July, the Premier League side completed the signing; the player was awarded the 21 shirt.^[8][9][10] On 14 August 2010, Silva made his Premier League début in a 0-0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.^[11]

International career

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 4th 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.^[12] 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.^[13]

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 semi finals. On August 11, 2010, during an international friendly against Mexico, Silva scored two minutes into second-half injury time ending the game with a draw.^[14]

In the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier against Liechtenstein on 3 September 2010, Silva scored 62 minutes into the game.^[15]

Statistics

Club

International goals

David Silva: International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	22 August 2007	Toumba Stadium, Thessaloniki, Greece	Greece	2–2	2–3	Friendly
2	22 August 2007	Toumba Stadium, Thessaloniki, Greece	Greece	2–3	2–3	Friendly
3	26 June 2008	Ernst Happel Stadion, Wien, Austria	Russia	0–3	0–3	UEFA Euro 2008
4	5 September 2009	Riazor, A Coruña, Spain	Belgium	1–0	5–0	2010 World Cup qualifying
5	5 September 2009	Riazor, A Coruña, Spain	Belgium	4–0	5–0	2010 World Cup qualifying
6	14 October 2009	Bilino Polje, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0–2	2–5	2010 World Cup qualifying
7	8 June 2010	Estadio Nueva Condomina, Murcia, Spain	Poland	2–0	6–0	Friendly
8	11 August 2010	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico	Mexico	1–1	1–1	Friendly
9	3 September 2010	Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein	Liechtenstein	0-4	0-4	Euro 2012 qualifying

Honours

Club

Valencia

• Copa del Rey: 1
  

2008

Country

Spain

• UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 1
  

2004

• UEFA European Football Championship: 1
  

2008

• FIFA World Cup: 1
  

2010

Individual

• FIFA U-17 World Championship: Bronze Ball 2003
• ESM Team of the Month: February 2007

References

External links

• David Silva career stats at Soccerbase
• BDFutbol profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• David Silva - FIFA competition record
• Official website (Spanish)
• ESPN Profile

Spain Squad Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2008 Winners (2nd Title) 1 Casillas (c) • 2 Albiol • 3 Navarro • 4 Marchena • 5 Puyol • 6 Iniesta • 7 Villa • 8 Xavi • 9 F. Torres • 10 Fàbregas • 11 Capdevila • 12 Cazorla • 13 Palop • 14 Alonso • 15 Ramos • 16 S. García • 17 Güiza • 18 Arbeloa • 19 Senna • 20 Juanito • 21 Silva • 22 De la Red • 23 Reina • Coach: Aragonés Spain squad – 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup Third Place 1 Casillas (c) • 2 Albiol • 3 Piqué • 4 Marchena • 5 Puyol • 6 Pablo • 7 Villa • 8 Xavi • 9 F. Torres • 10 Fàbregas • 11 Capdevila • 12 Busquets • 13 López • 14 Alonso • 15 Ramos • 16 Llorente • 17 Güiza • 18 Riera • 19 Arbeloa • 20 Cazorla • 21 Silva • 22 Mata • 23 Reina • Coach: del Bosque Spain squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup Winners (1st Title) 1 Casillas (c) • 2 Albiol • 3 Piqué • 4 Marchena • 5 Puyol • 6 Iniesta • 7 Villa • 8 Xavi • 9 F. Torres • 10 Fàbregas • 11 Capdevila • 12 Valdés • 13 Mata • 14 Alonso • 15 Ramos • 16 Busquets • 17 Arbeloa • 18 Pedro • 19 Llorente • 20 Martínez • 21 Silva • 22 Navas • 23 Reina • Coach: Del Bosque