Manchester City "Wizard" David Silva's Resurgence Has Sky Blues' Stars Aligned

Manchester City midfield maestro David Silva has shaken off both a lackluster 2012-13 season and a thigh injury sustained on international duty with Spain in September to regain his rightful place in City's XI just in time.

Micah Richards certainly seems to think Silva is worthy.

"We call him Merlin," said Richards about Silva, according to ESPNFC.com. "He's like a little wizard isn't he? He is class."

Barring a bizarre decision by City manager Manuel Pellegrini, Silva will make his 2013-14 Champions League debut for City against CSKA Moscow.

Already without centre-back Vincent Kompany, Pellegrini will almost certainly prefer Silva to the man who took Silva's place against Viktoria Plzen and Bayern Munich, Samir Nasri.

If that sounds like a slight to Nasri, it is not meant as one. Nasri has impressed under Pellegrini after falling almost entirely out of City's rotation at the end of Roberto Mancini's tenure as City manager.

It is just that—even at his best—Nasri cannot do everything that Silva does for City.

Silva has made five Premier League starts thus far and has averaged a point per contest. That is a small sample size.

But it is also an indication that City's moves in the summer transfer window (which some thought profligate) have paid real dividends for Silva.

At first blush, City's decision to lay out over £50 million on Fernandinho and Jesus Navas at the outset of the summer transfer window seemed over the top—even by City's extravagant standards.

City already had Yaya Toure, Silva, Nasri and Jack Rodwell on the roster at significant cost. Gareth Barry had not yet been loaned to Everton; James Milner was still literally—and figuratively—kicking around. How many midfielders does one team need?

Four months later, the genius of these signings (particularly Fernandinho) is evident.

As pointed out by Simon Curtis of ESPNFC.com, Fernandinho "is small of build, whippet-like in his movements, sharp and decisive in all that he does." Against West Ham this past Saturday, Fernandinho "put in an impressive shift, prompting, digging, thieving away deep in midfield."

In other words, Fernandinho was doing a lot of dirty work that Silva used to have to do under Mancini to the detriment of Silva's attacking instincts.

It is nearly impossible to be the inventive, incisive passer that Silva can be while simultaneously tracking back every 100 seconds.

Silva need not do that now.

Similarly, when Navas is in form, he positively glides up the right side of the pitch, gulping handfuls of yards in a few seconds, drawing the defense's attention to the wing and creating space. Silva loves getting the ball in space.

Unyoked of some of the tedious duties he had in the past, Silva is now free to create chances for City's expensive strike force and, on occasion, for himself.

Against West Ham, Sergio Aguero earned many of the 24-point headlines with his brace. A cursory review of the game film, though, would suggest that Silva was the man of the match.

As Barney Ronay of The Guardian put it: 

"

West Ham fought gamely at times but were undone by three moments of high-class incision as David Silva in particular was consistently inventive behind the strikers.

"

That Silva also iced the West Ham match with a clever, powerful left-footed strike in the 80th minute was no small detail, either.

City have plenty to worry about entering this Champions League tilt with CSKA Moscow.

Rodwell's recurrent absence has become as ubiquitous as falling leaves in autumn, but City will clearly miss Kompany and as such would have liked very much to see Martin Demichelis fit and available.

All three of them are out.

So Pellegrini will have to put an attacking XI out against CSKA Moscow and hope to out-score them rather than out-defend them. Good thing for Pellegrini that his midfield "wizard" is back at full strength.

More Micah Richards:

"

At West Ham he was just ridiculous. He is the best player I have played with. He just makes it look easy, the way he goes past people. He is just amazing.

"

There are times when a player gushes about the greatness of another player and it sounds hollow.

Anyone who has watched Silva play this season, though, knows that even if Richards did not choose his words very carefully, he was still telling the truth.