One of football’s most-discussed debates, especially when it comes to the Premier League is about the greatest midfielders to have ever played in the English top-flight.
Names like Kevin De Bruyne, Yaya Toure, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan, Fernandinho and Rodri all qualify for this conversation from a Manchester City perspective.
In March, Graeme Souness named Toure, De Bruyne and Rodri amongst some of the greatest midfielders in the league’s history off the top of his head.
David Silva ticks every single box a midfielder must to be regarded as arguably the greatest Premier League midfielder of all time
But one name that is often overlooked in such discussions is David Silva.
The Spanish legend, as Phil Neville told Sky Sports in 2017 went about his business in a “quiet way” and as a result, even when he was playing, there was a sense that he never got the plaudits his genius commanded.
After all, Silva was named in the PFA Team of the Year just once during his time in the Premier League, which is baffling, considering he was world-class throughout his spell at the Etihad Stadium.
Nowadays, David Silva is mentioned as one of the Premier League’s greatest midfielders of all time but an argument is rarely made for him to have a case for being the absolute best.
In 2020, Jack Grealish ranked the former Valencia technician as 10 in his list while speaking to BT Sport (now TNT Sports) while Ben Foster also put him in the same position on his YouTube channel.
However, the question is why that is the case.
David Silva ticks every possible box a midfielder must be regarded as the best Premier League midfielder of all time, if not at least in and around whichever player is considered the best of the best.
In terms of his longevity, the Manchester City legend joined the club in 2010, a season after they had finished in fifth place and since then, he went on to win four league titles.
Apart from the Champions League, David Silva won every single possible trophy with City, while managing to reinvent himself in different systems and positions and under multiple managers.
The same cannot be said for even Kevin De Bruyne, who has largely played as a number 10 or even the likes of Frank Lampard and Yaya Toure, who were mostly deployed as central midfielders.
Silva, on the other hand, was often used on the wing by the likes of Mancini and Pellegrini while under Guardiola, he was tasked to operate as one of the advanced midfielders; a position he had rarely played across his career.
Be it in a City side who were aiming to qualify for the Champions League and did so in the 2010/2011 season by finishing third or for the all-conquering ‘Centurions’, the silky operator’s performances remained exemplary.
Apart from Steven Gerrard, not many of the best-ever midfielders to have played in England have been tasked to prove themselves in two sides with such differing objectives and have done so successfully.
While Gerrard has played for mediocre Liverpool sides battling for top four as well as title-winning teams, even he failed to win the league.
In terms of David Silva’s performances as well, rarely has the Premier League seen a superior controller than him, while technically, he has a case for being the best player to have ever graced the division.
Unlike names like Gerrard or Lampard, while the World Cup winner lacked box-office moments such as a screamer from outside the box or a headline-grabbing challenge, he would dominate games in a more understated manner by pulling the strings.
Unfortunately, however, such moments often stick in the masses’ memories far more than how a midfielder dictates the tempo of a game.
While some may argue that Yaya Toure was at his brilliant best from 2010 to 2015 and Luka Modric was at Tottenham for just four seasons and as a result, question their longevity in the Premier League, such suggestions cannot be aimed at David Silva.
Apart from Silva’s final season as he completed a decade at City, it would be fair to claim that he was up there with some of the very best players in Europe.
Trophies, quality, consistency, longevity — you name it and Silva passes the criterion.
Yet, one wonders why the discussions around the greatest midfielder in the Premier League era often feature only the likes of Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard and as of late, Kevin De Bruyne.
Silva also paved the way for world-class diminutive midfielders
Of course, the retired icon is not the only diminutive player to have thrived in the Premier League, with names like Gianfranco Zola, Cesc Fabregas and Luka Modric springing to mind.
But Zola did not play in the middle of the park, Fabregas was far quicker and physically gifted than Silva and Modric truly operated at the elite level after moving to Real Madrid.
David Silva, however, showcased that despite perhaps not looking like the average footballer due to his short stature and diminutive frame, cementing greatness in the most physically demanding league in the world is achievable.
Jamie Carragher made this very point on Sky Sports after David Silva played his last game for Manchester City against Norwich City in 2020.
“I just think a lot of it [Manchester City’s early success] was built around those four players [David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure]”, Carragher initially said.
“The difference was with those four players is we’ve seen a Vincent Kompany type of players at most clubs, certainly at the top clubs. A big, top centre-back, a great goalscorer at one end [Sergio Aguero], someone in midfield who powers forward and gets goals like Yaya Toure at other clubs.”
“I think the special thing about David Silva is it was almost like we’ve not really seen anyone like that in our game before. And I go back to what Graeme [Souness] mentioned before when he mentioned Xavi and [Andres] Iniesta. We marvel at those players. We don’t often see them in the Premier League. We feel maybe they aren’t suited to the Premier League. And he was different. That’s what made him so special.”
David Silva did not fit the norm of a great Premier League midfielder, who was combative, physically dominant and aggressive; with names like Patrick Vieira, Roy Keane and Steven Gerrard rolling off the tongue as some of the best of the best before his arrival 14 years ago.
However, the decorated midfielder did things his own way in England and in some ways, perhaps opened the door for modern-day magicians like Bernardo Silva and Martin Odegaard to wreak havoc in the league nowadays.