Manchester City ace David Silva has revealed how close he came to joining Real Madrid as a teenager.
Silva is set for an emotional exit from City at the end of the season when his contract ends after 10 years at the club.
The 34-year-old will leave for a new challenge with his place as one of City’s greatest ever players secure, having been hugely influential in shaping the club’s most successful decade ever.
Since joining from Valencia for £26million in the summer of 2010, Silva has helped City to four Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups and three Community Shields.
But the club might never have had the chance to sign him had the former Spain star taken up repeated offers to join Real Madrid at a young age.
(Image: Offside via Getty Images)
Silva reveals why he didn’t join Madrid in ‘Made in Gran Canaria’, a documentary about his career released by City to celebrate his decade at the club.
He explains how as a teenager he went to trials for Real in Valdebebas, but his father told several clubs his son wasn’t ready to leave home at such a young age, and that they would have to monitor him in the Canary Islands.
Silva said: “After that I didn’t go again [to mainland Spain]. They’d call me year after year, but I didn’t go. The following year I went back to my town where I played until I was 14.”
Silva ended up joining Valencia while still a teenager, and was loaned out to Celta Vigo before becoming a first-team regular for Los Ches.
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He joined City in June 2010, helping them win the FA Cup in his first season to kick off a decade of trophy dominance.
Silva played 419 times for City, scoring 74 goals and registering 137 assists.
He also played 125 times for Spain, and was part of the team that won the European Championships in 2008 and 2012, either side of their World Cup triumph in 2010.
He has been linked with a move to the MLS and David Beckham’s new Inter Miami team.
