Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘I need to add Silva lining to City career’
DAVID SILVA has set his sights on ending his Manchester City career as a Champions League winner.
The Spanish playmaker has confirmed he will walk away from the Etihad when his contract expires in 2020 after lifting three Premier League titles, the FA Cup and three League Cups during his eight years with the Blues.
But Silva – who has won the World Cup and two European Championships with his country – still harbours one burning ambition.
He is desperate to establish City as part of Europe’s elite before taking up a new challenge.
Silva said: “I have been at City for eight years and I have been very happy with what the club has achieved in that time.
“But there is something missing – the Champions League. It is the only trophy I don’t have at home and, of course, I want to win it to complete the set.
“If we win the Champions League in the next two years, then, after that, I could retire and really enjoy my life. That isn’t to say that I am only thinking of the Champions League. I want to win everything that I am playing for.
“It doesn’t matter if I am playing in the Premier League, the World Cup or FIFA 2018, I want to win.
“If there is a title available, I aim to win it. That will never change. But it is true that the Champions League is very important – both for City and myself.”
Silva saying his time in Manchester will come to an end in two years will have disappointed City fans, who christened the midfielder from Gran Canaria “Merlin.”
The 32-year-old will arguably be remembered as the club’s greatest-ever player when he departs.
Pep Guardiola had to do without his No.21 for eight Premier League games last season after granting the Spanish midfielder permission to be with his son Mateo, following the baby’s premature birth.
But Silva was still one of his most consistent performers, as City won the Premier League in record-breaking fashion.
He also scored a goal in the Carabao Cup Final, as the Blues beat Arsenal 3-0 at Wembley, to claim his seventh medal in seven seasons with the club. Guardiola’s men smashed a clutch of English football’s most cherished records – they were the first team to win 100 points in 130 years of the top-flight game.
The 19-point gap to second-placed Manchester United was another record, as were the 18 successive victories, while the 106 goals they netted set another standard.
Silva remembers how the Premier Leaguewinning sides he played in under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini failed to defend their titles.
And he is already braced for the challenges to City’s domestic dominance. But his daunting message to the other pretenders is that Guardiola will demand his players hit even higher heights during the new campaign.
Silva said: “How do we better last season? That is the key question. Last year was fantastic. A hundred points, lots of goals, lots of records. It’s going to be very difficult to do anything like that. “Teams like United, Liverpool, Chelsea will improve and they will have us in their sights, as that is how the Premier League is.
“We saw that in 2012 and 2014, how hard it is to win back-to-back titles, so a successful defence is the aim for us this time.”
He added: “We will look to improve in the Champions League, of course, and also the FA Cup. And, while it will be a tough challenge to set records, we will still try to do just that.
“Our aim, as always, will be to even better than the previous season.”
So what has been Silva’s favourite memory during his time at City?
“That is impossible to answer,” he said. “I have too many great memories to choose just one. My hope is that the best is yet to come.”