“Courage in football, as if life, comes in many forms. But the courage to continue, no matter how many times he is going to be kicked, identifies Ronaldo. Very few players have that level of courage. Some believe the greatest courage in football is the courage to win the ball. The other kind of courage – and it’s a moral courage – is the courage to keep the ball. That’s what Ronaldo has. All the great players had it. Best had it, Charlton had it, Cantona: ‘I’ll take the kick. I’ll take the injury. But I will keep the ball. I’ll beat the bully.”
Sir Alex Ferguson, 2008
Pep Guardiola was nodding approvingly from his seat at the top table of Manchester City’s media auditorium on Tuesday as Sir Alex Ferguson’s opinions on what constitutes courage in football were relayed to him. In this case, Cristiano Ronaldo was not the topic of discussion but David Silva, Guardiola’s midfield metronome and, more often than not, the calmest man on the pitch whenever he is playing.
There are players who will stick their head or leg in where it hurts but who, when the pressure is on and the stakes are high, are reluctant to take the ball, fearful of losing it or looking to others to step up and take control. Guardiola’s teams are defined by their willingness to “keep the ball”, as Ferguson called it, and in this City side no one embodies that better than Silva, who operates in an almost permanent state of serenity in the frantic, frenetic hurly burly of Premier League football.
Doing what Silva does, and does with such graceful brilliance, is far from easy in La Liga. To do it in English football’s top flight, and all that entails, is something altogether different but Silva is the antidote to panic, a blissful oasis of calm amid the fire and fury and Guardiola loves him for it. To him, Silva’s courage on the field is courage in its purest and most important form.
“When you talk courage, there are the guys who jump, who make tackles, but when there are troubles they don’t want the ball,” the City manager said. “Everything is important in football but I like a lot players who, when you are in a bad situation, step forward.
“David looks skinny and like he doesn’t run too much but he’s never injured and every three games he’s fit, he’s there. It doesn’t matter if it’s a friendly game or important game, he’s ready. That is the strong guy – the one who is ready, and fit.
“I like guys who are strong and want to play, but I like more the guys who are not afraid to play all the time and with David you have that a lot. He’s the guy who will play in the important stages and especially in the bad moments. I put a lot of attention on how players react in bad moments, during the game and in bad situations.”
One Premier League footballer told this observer not too long ago that trying to get the ball off Silva was one of the hardest and most soul-destroying exercises he had encountered. Another recently retired top flight player said he wished he could inhabit Silva’s body for 90 minutes just to see how the game is framed in the Spaniard’s mind.
Silva is 32 in six weeks’ time but it is testament to his commitment to self-improvement and willingness to keep learning as much as Guardiola’s influence that he is playing the best football of his career. Deployed centrally alongside Kevin De Bruyne, no one has yet found a way to adequately suffocate the pair. No one has more assists in the Premier League this term than Silva’s eight, he is fourth for chances created, second for passes, and third for pass accuracy.
Since joining City in 2010, he has created 640 chances – 184 more than his closest rival. On those rare occasions Silva does lose the ball, it becomes an instant talking point because it is such an uncommon sight.
Midway through the first half of the 3-1 win against Arsenal this month, a fast, spinning ball bounced awkwardly in front of Silva standing on the edge of his own penalty area. There were Arsenal players on either side of him and a bad touch would have put his team in real difficulty. But Silva nonchalantly cushioned the ball first time with the outside of his left boot into the feet of De Bruyne 10 yards away and suddenly, from a moment of danger, City were on the counter attack. Moments like that showcase what Silva is about.
Talks over a contract extension have dragged on but Guardiola is confident the player will extend his existing deal by a year to June 2020, which, if he stays that long, would mark a decade at City.
“Like Yaya Toure, like Vincent Kompany, like Joe Hart and Pablo Zabaleta were, and many other players, he’s a real legend for this club,” Guardiola said. “What he’s done for the club will be written in the history books in the future. I hope he’ll continue for the next years. When he can finally sign the contract we’ll be so happy.”
It was telling that Guardiola should reference Silva’s importance not just to City’s chances of success this season but the development of the club’s young players.
Guardiola mentioned Phil Foden by name in that regard and there is certainly more than a whiff of Silva about the 17-year-old Stockport-born midfielder. Foden is a similar height to Silva – around 5ft 7in – and possesses that natural, deft balance that is a cornerstone of the Spaniard’s game.
But it is not just Silva’s determination to keep passing, probing and provoking that Guardiola will tell Foden and others to study. It is his willingness to take the kick – to beat the bully – and never run away from the challenge, even in the face of great physicality on the opposite side, that singles out Silva as so much more than your usual, diminutive playmaker.
“What I like the most about David, being a guy who’s a bit serious in his life, a little bit shy, is how competitive, and aggressive, he is in winning duels, when normally he is a guy more about technique, and the pass,” Guardiola said. “I admire him a lot. He perfectly suits Spanish football, but here with the speed and the weather, the wind and the tough conditions, he has survived for a long time.”
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