Credit: Twitter
David Silva has announced his retirement from professional football following an injury to his cruciate ligament during a training session with club Real Sociedad. The Spanish international is 37 years old and a brutal knee injury is likely to exacerbate the already declining athleticism the midfielder is facing due to aging, and he has decided to hang up his boots on a high, after guiding Sociedad to a Champions League qualification spot after the famous Basque club has failed to qualify for almost ten years.
The majority of David Silva’s career was spent at Manchester City, whom he joined from Valencia in 2010. Spending ten years at the Skyblues, he won four premier league titles, two FA cups, and four league cups. He also earned 436 caps for the Citizens, which places him at number ten on the all-time appearance holders’ list.
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With Spain, Silva won the World Cup in 2010, and the euros in 2008 and 2012. He made 125 appearances for the Spanish national team. Known for his technique and intelligence, he is highly regarded as one of the greatest midfielders in premier league history. He was honored by Manchester City with a statue outside the Etihad Stadium.
Silva took to his Twitter handle and posted a heartfelt video where he announced his retirement. He captioned the video, " Muchas gracias…fútbol - Thank you very much…football "
Manchester City wrote on its website, “Everyone at Manchester City would like to wish David all the best in his retirement and to thank him once more for the incredible contribution he made to our football club during his ten years here.”
Silva one of the premier league all-time greats
Silva was a brilliant technical player, and other highly regarded players have named him as the most difficult midfielder to play against in the premier league. Arsenal’s Declan Rice once described him as the scariest player to go against because of his football intelligence and quick movement.
Like all the best players, Silva made football look simple. Most fans revered his ability on and off the ball, especially his skill in very quickly receiving and passing the ball, often to the best option possible. His vision and reading of the game allowed him to dictate the tempo of the midfield, and he would move things along extremely quickly. This meant that opposition midfielders would often flounder out of position or break a defensive shape trying to react to Silva’s ball movement. This greatly guarded City, as even when Silva had the ball stolen, it was often by a midfielder who was out of position and not in a good spot to counterattack.
City often struggled in the last decade when Silva wasn’t playing. Even in his 30s, the technical genius’s absence was felt during any game he wasn’t present in. He will rightly go down in history as not only one of Manchester City’s greatest players but also as one of the Premier League’s smartest footballers as well as one of its best-ever technical talents.
