David Villa says player Man City signed for £24m is one of the smartest he has ever seen

David Villa says player Man City signed for £24m is one of the smartest he has ever seen

 

David Villa has named former Manchester City star David Silva as the smartest player he has ever seen.

 

The former Barcelona and Atletico Madrid star played 667 club games across his career, scoring 331 goals along the way and playing alongside a plethora of top players in the process.

 

Having retired in 2020, the Spaniard has now shared his thoughts on some of the best footballing features he has come across from other players throughout his career, with one former City player getting a significant mention.

 

Villa hails intelligent Silva

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In a recent video from GOAL shared on their Tik Tok account, when asked to build his dream footballer, Villa picked Silva as the player with the best football intelligence he has seen in his career.

 

The duo played in 185 games together for Valencia and the Spanish national team, racking up 24 joint goal participations along the way, with Villa scoring 18 goals assisted by Silva and six goals being scored by Silva assisted by Villa.

 

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Back in the 2010 summer transfer window, City signed the midfielder from Valencia in a deal worth £24m.

 

During a very impressive 10-year spell at the Manchester club, Silva scored 77 goals and provided 140 assists in 436 appearances across all competitions.

 

This isn’t the first time Silva has been praised for his footballing intelligence, as Pep Guardiola had this to say about the midfielder back in 2019 after admitting that he was unsure whether the Spaniard would be a success in the Premier League due to him being a technical player.

 

 

He said: “He’s one of the most technically gifted and intelligent players to move and work in a small space, one of the best ever.”

 

Despite all of that, we feel that the fact Villa picked Silva for his intelligence over the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Lionel Messi and Xabi Alonso is still a massive compliment to the former City star.