Why David Silva Is the Manchester City Player Juventus Should Try to Sign

Fans of teams like Juventus always play the same game.  Every week, every game, fans look over the players on the other side and size up which one of them they'd like to see playing in the Juve shirt.

Today, we at Bleacher Report are going to play that game.  "Our" team will be Juve; the other team will be their Champions League opponents on Wednesday: Manchester City.

For a team that throws cash around, City don't have a huge squad.  They don't do what teams like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich do, spending millions on too many top-tier talents and ending up with more players than places in the lineup.  There aren't a ton of players who are truly surplus to requirements at Eastlands, but there is one man who could possibly be on the verge in the next few months: David Silva.

The Spain international has been at City since 2010 after moving from Valencia.  His performances have been one of the keys to City's perennial participation in the UEFA Champions League.  In the 2011-12 season, when City won their first league title in 44 years, Silva was a key contributor, chipping in with six goals and 15 assists.

But Silva's position in City's lineup could come under threat in the future.  This summer, the club signed a pair of attacking players, Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne, for a combined outlay of €136.5 million, according to Transfermarkt.com.  De Bruyne is a true attacking midfielder, and Sterling is a winger who can play that role if required.

That competition for places could become problematic, especially in the case of De Bruyne, who is going to need playing time to justify his astronomical €74 million fee.  It doesn't help that an ankle injury to Silva has allowed the Belgian to make a case for a full-time starting spot.  If Samir Nasri returns in March as expected, it could further complicate things from a numbers perspective, even though the Frenchman has only been a bit part in recent seasons.

If Silva doesn't come under direct threat, his playing time could be affected tangentially from another place. The third attacking midfield spot in Manuel Pellegrini's preferred 4-2-3-1 has been manned capably by Jesus Navas this year.  He hasn't put up video-game numbers, but he's notched a pair of assists and generally been dangerous from the wing.

If Navas continues to play at a high level, Pellegrini will have a decision to make.  If Navas manages to prove himself undroppable—filling the other place on the field where De Bruyne can play his best—it will mean a tough choice between Silva and the Belgian, who has proven himself undroppable so far, scoring three times and notching four assists while averaging, according to WhoScored.com, 3.1 key passes per match.

If he keeps that kind of form and Navas manages to make the right wing his, one of the two will start to be disappointed at his playing time.  Given his insane fee, De Bruyne would conceivably be the favorite for those minutes.  If that becomes the case, Silva could cast his gaze elsewhere in a quest for more.

Should Silva start finding playing time scarce, it could be a moment for Juventus to pounce.

Massimiliano Allegri's preferred formation, the 4-3-1-2, obviosuly requires the presence of an attacking midfielder.  For the entire summer transfer window, there was a clamor to sign one.  Sources like Kicker (h/t ESPN FC) mentioned Bayern Munich's Mario Goetze as a potential candidate, and there was a long, drawn-out saga with Schalke over the fate of Julian Draxler, who ended up at Wolfsburg.

The Bianconeri ended up settling for a deadline-day deal with Inter for Hernanes, who has contributed little this season except a game-changing red card in the Champions League against Borussia Monchengladbach that saw Juve go from the ascendancy to hanging on for dear life to a 1-1 draw.

Putting aside the fact that Massimiliano Allegri has a player at his disposal who has shown he can handle the role (Roberto Pereyra, anyone?), if you're going to add a trequartista from outside the club, Silva would be a fantastic option.

According to WhoScored, Silva was averaging 3.4 key passes per game between the Premier League and the Champions League before his injury.  Since the 2011-12 season, that average has fallen to less than three in league play only twice—and both times the number was 2.9.  His assist totals for his seasons since arriving at City read like this: seven, 15, eight, nine, seven and six already this season.

That kind of production is exactly what Juventus needs.  Without Andrea Pirlo and his magical passing at the regista position this season, the Bianconeri have often found it difficult to unlock opposing defenses.

They've had to rely on penalties (as in their early draw against Chievo), moments of magic (like the great connection from Paul Pogba to Alex Sandro to Paulo Dybala that won them Saturday's game against AC Milan) and a little bit of sheer dumb luck (Juan Cuadrado's last-second derby-winner against Torino that came off his rear end more than anything else) to get their goals and their points.

A player like Silva can change all that.  He would be doing it from the top of the midfield rather than the bottom, but the results would be the same—a whole lot more scoring chances for young finishers like Dybala and Alvaro Morata to feast on.  The combination of those two up front and Silva—Morata's international teammate—in the hole would be a force to be reckoned with for any defense.

Would it take some luck to find the right situation and a lot of money?  Yes, absolutely.  But Silva could end up filling one of Juve's most important needs, ramming rounds into the cannon for Dybala and Morata to fire.

Outside of our little hypothetical game, the chances of a move like this coming to fruition are probably pretty slim.  But if the opportunity were to present itself, it would behoove Juve to kick the tires.