“Today is a sad day for me, today it is time to say goodbye to what I have dedicated all my life”. This is how the video published on his social networks begins with which David Silva announced his retirement from football. The midfielder from the Canary Islands decided to put an end to his career after breaking his crossbones in training this preseason with Real Sociedad.
“Today I have to say goodbye to colleagues who are like family to me, I'm going to miss you a lot,” continued the Canarian after a series of images that reviewed all the clubs the Canarian player has played: Valencia, Eibar, Celta, Manchester City and, until today, Real Sociedad. Silva thanked colleagues and hobbies “for making him feel at home”.
Just two days ago, the president of Real Sociedad, Jokin Aperribay, already announced that he was aware of the decision of the Canarian player. “I'm not going to advance it. I spoke the same day of the injury, the next day, also on Saturday. I'm not going to go any further,” said the president.. no longer necessary.
A cruciate injury, whose recovery takes around 8 or 9 months, has been the cause of Silva's decision to end his career as a footballer. A career of enormous successes both collectively and individually.
Born in Arguineguín, a town that had already contributed other big names to football such as Juan Carlos Valerón, Silva trained in the lower categories of Valencia, which he arrived at at the age of 14. Subsequently, he was loaned first to Eibar and then to Celta, playing one season for each team until 2006 when he definitively joined the Valencia first team.
Silva arrives at a team with a dream striker. David Villa, a teammate in the Ché team and later in the Spanish team, was the main recipient of their passes and together they formed a historic duo in Valencia that led them to the national team.
Peak of his career
In 2008, both would be proclaimed European champions with Spain, although Silva with a less leading role than the Asturian. Two years later, they would win again with the national team, this time the World Cup in South Africa with Iniesta's unforgettable goal. That summer his arrival at Manchester City would be confirmed.
It was in the citizen group that he would achieve the greatest international fame and where he would achieve his greatest successes in a club.. Three Premier Leagues and five League Cups, among other trophies, guarantee a very successful career at City and in which he had great weight in the team, even wearing the captain's armband. In that period, he would also win his second European national team title after a great match against Italy in the kyiv final.
In August 2020, David Silva returns to Spanish football and does so by signing with Real Sociedad. The canary prioritized the txuriurdin team against La Lazio, the best positioned team to sign him. He was 34 years old and still had a lot of football in his boots.
With him in the team, Real manages to win a Copa del Rey after 34 years waiting to do so. The canary started in the final that would be decided by a goal from Mikel Oyarzábal.
At the age of 37, an untimely injury deprives Spanish football of continuing to enjoy another year of the creativity of the brilliant Canarian footballer nicknamed 'El Mago'. Surely the Imanol team and football in general will miss the star from Arguineguín.