The Manchester City playmaker, plagued for the past four years by a problematic left ankle, is an advocate of Michael Jordan’s oft-repeated assertion that ‘there is no ‘I’ in team,’ but he is now talking about himself and the sacrifice he is making for the good of his club.
“This ankle,” Silva says. “It is something that I have had problems with for years and years. Every day, I have to look after it. It’s not 100 per cent, but I just have to look after it.
“Playing all of these games in England is hard, so it impossible, totally impossible, to be completely 100 per cent all the time.
“When I was at Valencia, I had an operation on it shortly after Euro 2008. For some reason, I always seem to get knocks and problems in the same area. But all you can do is try to be fit enough to play as often as possible. It is draining, but the important thing is to focus on the end of the season and winning the Premier League.
“After so many years as a professional footballer, you realise that it’s all about the team.” Team first, individual second. In an age when many of his contemporaries adhere to a wholly different ethos – some of them have shared a City dressing room with him since his arrival from Valencia in July 2010 – Silva’s apparent willingness to play through the pain barrier for his team is admirable.
Silva, whose mercurial talents have earned him the nickname ‘Merlin’ from his City team-mates, is not the shining ray of light off the pitch that he is on it, however.
He comes across as an awkward blend of Paul Scholes and Liam Gallagher. On the one hand, totally dedicated and focused on training, playing and resting, yet also moody, exasperated and weary of the demands that accompany life at the sharp end of his profession.
Silva has now been in England for 18 months, but he admits that the heavy workload placed on footballers in this country has contributed to his inability to fully grasp the English language.
“I only did three months [of English lessons],” Silva said, speaking through a translator, “I had to stop because there are just too many matches.
“In terms of the day-to-day, I understand the language. In the changing room, I speak English because all of my team-mates speak this way. But it’s different when you do an interview. That can be quite daunting, so it feels more comfortable to speak in Spanish.
“The important thing is to understand your team-mates, though, and have a good relationship with them. I am at that stage already — the rest will come.
“But yes, it’s difficult to adapt to the weather and lifestyle here, but as a professional, it’s something that you just have to do.”
Attempting to understand the real David Silva is a challenge. As he speaks, there is a poster nearby of the 26 year-old on Gran Canaria’s Maspalomas Beach, arms outstretched, eyes closed, smiling and content.
Yet when it comes to football, the day job, he appears happy to live behind a façade of indifference, content to adopt a low profile and avoid the spotlight at all costs.
His performances for City this season have ensured his status as the kingpin of Mancini’s team. Silva is the key that unlocks doors for the likes of Sergio Agüero, Mario Balotelli and Edin Dzeko and City are not quite the same without him.
Silva might be amassing a healthy collection of votes for the Footballer of the Year award, but the truth is, he could not care less.
He said he is “really not bothered” by the award, adding: “All I want to do is win the Premier League and Europa League — I don’t stop to think about being named as the Player of the Year. It’s not something that interests me.
“I love compliments, of course I do. Everybody wants to receive compliments. But the team is the important thing and I’d rather win things as a team than finish up with individual honours.
“This is a great team with great players, so I don’t feel there is extra pressure on me to make the difference or be the difference.
“Any player could solve a problem, at any stage in the next three months, so I don’t believe that it is only me who can decide the title for City.”
Although he positions himself as City’s reluctant hero, as a World Cup winner and European champion with Spain, Silva cannot escape the onus on him to help guide the team through the nerves and tension of the title run-in.
Silva knows how to win and what it means to win. As a club, City aspire to the same glorious heights scaled by their star player, but to achieve that, they must first overcome institutions who regard success as second nature.
Domestically, Manchester United remain the biggest hurdle to success in the Premier League this season, while the twin Goliaths of Real Madrid and Barcelona threaten to block City’s way in the Champions League in the coming years.
And Silva admits that City’s task is made all the more difficult by the seasoned experience of their rivals.
“There is definitely a difference when you are fighting for a title against clubs like United or Real Madrid or Barcelona,” Silva said. “They are so used to winning, it means that you have to have a different frame of mind when you challenge them because that’s the only way to overcome them.
“You know that, the minute that you make a mistake, they will kill the game or take advantage of any slip. So you do feel different when you play against them or are in a title race with them.
“But winning big trophies gives you self-confidence and belief that you can do it again. It teaches you not to be afraid and to have faith that you can win. That is what happened with Spain after winning Euro 2008.
“City, as a club, is getting that mentality now. Winning the FA Cup last year has made everyone think, ‘Actually, we can win things.’
“So now, we are saying, ‘Let’s go and win it,’ because we proved to ourselves that we could do this last year.” Adding a Premier League winner’s medal to his stellar honours list would leave Silva with only Europe left to conquer.
But will he search for the final piece of the jigsaw with City or, at 26, is there a temptation to return to Spain to embellish his CV with a move to Madrid or Barcelona?
Mancini said on Friday that he is keen to offer him a new deal but Silva remains guarded. “I’ve got two more years left on my contract here,” he said. “I’m very happy and I am going to see them through.
“After that, who knows? Football is a changeable game, from one day to another, everything could change.
“I only see myself at the moment as where I am and that is at City.”
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