WOLVES V CITY Silva to stay for two more years... at least
DAVID Silva intends to see out his City deal before deciding his next move.
The brilliant midfielder will turn 33 this season, and has two more years with the Blues before his current contract expires, in the summer of 2020.
Pep Guardiola has hinted that Silva will not play as many games this season, and has already prepared for Bernardo Silva to step into his boots.
But Silva has extended his shelf life by retiring from international football and having a superb start to the season against Huddersfield last week.
Now he says he intends to stay with City for two years – at least.
“I have two more years on my contract here, I feel great here,” he said. “I want to stay until the end of my contract and then, I’ll see how I feel physically and mentally to carry on.”
The challenge for Silva and his City team-mates is to maintain – or even improve upon – the levels they hit last season, and the Spain star thinks that will be tough to win consecutive titles.
“It’s going to be very difficult to improve on what we did last season,” he said. “I think it happens once in a lifetime.
“We are going to try, knowing that every time is harder and harder. But we are on the right path.
“I think we have a great team and we are going to try to repeat the title success.
“I think last season there were moments where we played the ideal football - lots of goals, high ball possession, few chances conceded. I think that is very unusual in football nowadays.” PEP Guardiola was non-committal about Vincent Kompany’s future at City beyond next year.
The big Blues skipper’s contract runs out next summer, and he has already said that he wants to play on for another three years, at least.
But City will assess how he progresses this season, with the last two seasons having been pockmarked by injury absences.
Kompany told Belgium boss Roberto Martinez that he has no intention of retiring from international football after leading the Red Devils to third place at the World Cup.
And he said that he will give his all on the playing side for three more years.
Now the question is whether he can keep his standards high enough – and avoid injury for long enough – to persuade Guardiola and the City hierarchy that he can remain with the Blues.
Kompany could make his 250th Premier League appearance at Wolves today, in a week that marked the tenth anniversary of his £6m signing for the club.
Guardiola welcomed the news that the 32-year-old aims to play on for three more years, but did not comment on whether he thought the central defender could spend those years at the Etihad
“That’s good if he wants to play for three more years,” said Guardiola. “I always tell my players to retire if they feel tired or feel it isn’t their time any more but he wants to play.
“There’s no doubt about his physicality – he is strong when he is fit.
“The problem we had with Vincent in the last three years is his consistency to be ready to be fit. When he can do it, he is an excellent central defender.”
The fact that he has averaged roughly 25 games a season since making his debut under Mark Hughes tells its own story – and explains why Guardiola and the City executives waiting in terms of any new deal.
Guardiola was invited to speak about Kompany’s ten years at the club, and said: “It’s been 10 years here, so happy anniversary. It’s a long time. It’s many games.
“Unfortunately, in the last years, it could have been more. But there’s no doubt about his quality.”
Kompany is in line to play at Molineux this lunchtime, but Guardiola has warned his team that it will not be easy against one of only two teams that stopped City from scoring last season – the other being Wigan.
“They destroyed the Championship last season,” said Guardiola. “We knew from the beginning how tough it would be.
“We found that last season in the Carabao Cup when we went through on penalties.”