Full name: David Josué Jiménez Silva
Date of birth: 8 January 1986
Place of birth: Arguineguín, Spain
Height: 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Playing Position: Attacking Midfielder
David Josué Jiménez Silva (born 8 January 1986) is a Spanish footballer who 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, appearing in more than 150 games and winning one Copa del Rey, before moving in 2010. City manager Roberto Mancini mainly deployed Silva as a winger and later in a trequartista role in his first season but is utilised in a playmaker role with Samir Nasri behind Sergio Agüero and Edin Džeko. A Spanish international since the age of 20, he was a member of the squads that won both the Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup.
Early Life
Silva was born in Arguineguín, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands to Fernando Jiménez, a former municipal police officer who eventually was responsible for the safety of the Valencia CF stadium, and Eva Silva. His father is Canarian. Silva's mother is of part Japanese descent, confirmed in an interview by his family members to the Canarian media. Silva has two younger siblings, sister Natalia and brother Nando.
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.
Valencia
Silva made his professional début in 2004–05, with Segunda División's SD Eibar, while on loan from Valencia, playing 35 league games and scoring on five occasions. In the following season, he was again out on loan, 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 summer of 2006, becoming an automatic first-choice despite his young age (20). In two seasons combined, he only missed six matches and netted 14 goals (his first coming on 5 November 2006 in a 1–1 draw at RCD Espanyol). In August 2008, he extended his contract by five years, amidst interest of several Premier League teams.
After not appearing in the first three months of 2008–09 due to a chronic ankle ailment, Silva returned to the call-ups in mid-December. On 3 January 2009, he scored twice in a 3–1 home win over Atlético Madrid, 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, adding three assists in the 4–4 thriller at SV Werder Bremen, for the Europa League's round of 16.
Manchester City
On 30 June 2010, Manchester City announced that they had reached an agreement with Valencia CF 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. On 14 July, the Premier League side completed the signing and Silva was awarded the number 21 shirt, the same number he wore for Valencia and when playing for Spain. Manchester City had previously tried to sign Silva and his Valencia team-mate David Villa in 2008, but were put off when Valencia put a £135m combined price tag on both players.
Silva made his Premier League début on 14 August 2010, in a 0–0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. He scored his first goal for the club on 16 September, eight minutes into the Europa League group match against FC Red Bull Salzburg. On 17 October, he scored his first league goal in a game against Blackpool, netting City's third goal in a 3–2 away win. In a 3-1 home win in the Europa League against Lech Poznań, he set up two goals for Emmanuel Adebayor. He made another assist slipping through Adam Johnson for Manchester City's third in a 3–1 away win against West Ham United. His performances have seen him win three Player of the Month awards from Manchester City in a row for October, November and December.
On 12 February 2011, he was credited for the equalising goal in the 2–1 loss to rivals Manchester United when an Edin Dzeko shot deflected off his back and into the net. On 2 March, he scored from twenty yards out in an FA Cup win (3–0) against Aston Villa. Three days later, he scored the only goal in Manchester City's win against Wigan Athletic. Silva netted the third goal in City's 5–0 rout of Sunderland on 3 April. On 25 April 2011, he started the game against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park and was replaced on 90 minutes by Dedryck Boyata in the 1-0 win for City. His assist to Yaya Toure against Everton F.C. at Goodison Park took Silva to 15 assists in all competitions for the season. Following his debut season in the Barclays Premier League, Silva has emerged as one of the leagues finest playmakers. Fellow City and former Manchester United player Carlos Tevez, lauded him as "The best signing we have made" and former Manchester United legend Gary Neville called him "one of the best players in the league".
Silva began the 2011-12 season in fine form, scoring the third goal in City's 4-0 thrashing of Swansea and was voted man of the match. Silva also scored the following week against Bolton, and was named named man of the match. Silva then set up two of Sergio Aguero's three goals in city's second home game against Wigan Athletic, after another magnificent display from Silva Roberto Mancini compared Silva to fellow Spain internationals Xavi and Andres Iniesta and said that Silva is "One of the best players in the world".
[edit] International career
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-fourth 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. 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.
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 semifinals.
On 11 August 2010, during an international friendly with Mexico, Silva scored two minutes into second-half injury time, ending the game with a 1–1 draw.
In an Euro 2012 qualifier against Liechtenstein on 3 September 2010, Silva scored after 62 minutes, in a 4–0 away win. The following month, in the same competition, he scored through a rare header, as the national team downed Lithuania in Salamanca (3–1).
In Spain's first match for 2011, an international friendly against Colombia on Feb 9, he came off the bench to score the game's only goal with just four minutes remaining, helping Spain to a hard-fought 1-0 win.
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