City's magic man, David Silva, made his 400th appearance for the club last weekend in their 3-1 victory over Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium. A man held in such high regard, that some fans claim he is the best to have ever pulled on that famous sky blue strip. Most will argue it's between Silva and club legend Colin Bell who are vying for the number 1 position of 'best ever'.
Silva joined the Blues from Valencia for a modest £25.8m in July 2010. Arriving at the then 'City of Manchester Stadium' on the back of helping Spain secure their first ever World Cup victory in South Africa. The mercurial midfielder hit the ground running and put paid to the age-old adage that players need time to adapt to the Premier League by putting in match-winning performances from the off.
It took Silva just 7 matches to open his goalscoring account for the Blues, notching his first strike against Red Bull Salzburg in the Europa League (much to Alan's dismay!). Silva's first Premier League goal came in the 3-2 victory over Blackpool in October 2010. The latter coming after he twisted and turned the Tangerine defence, and curled home a fine last-minute effort. That kind of jinking and dribbling became a trademark of Silva's play. The way he seemingly has the ball stuck to his boot only mirrored by his namesake Bernardo Silva (OK, we might let Messi join that club too!).
David Silva is the club's joint-most decorated player having won 12 trophies!
Silva's 400th appearance came 4 games into his 10th and sadly, final, season at the club. His first was a 0-0 draw away at Tottenham Hotspur in the 2010/11 season. David has played alongside some 81 different players during his time at the club, but obviosuly no more than alongside Sergio Aguero. The duo have played 259 matches together, which has seen them move into the top 25 'appeared together' ratings.
Those 400 apperances have been made up of 362 starts and 38 games from the bench. 285 have come in the Premier League, 66 in European competition and 49 in domestic cup games.
David has scored 71 goals during his time with City, that's the 32nd highest of the club's all-time goalscorers. 54 have been scored in the Premier League, whilst 11 have come in European games and a further 6 have been notched in cup matches.
Silva has played under 4 managers for the Blues. Roberto Mancini leads the way with 141 appearances under the Italian. Guardiola (139), Pellegrini (118) and Kidd (interim - 2) make up the remaining managerial selections.
The Spaniard has played in 11 finals for City, winning 8 - including the last 5 in a row!
Silva's 400 appearances see him sat in 14th place in the all-time City appearance makers table, sandwiched between Sam Cowan (407) and Billy Meredith (394). David will need to make a further 36 appearances this season if he is to force his way into the club's top 10 list.
