Why David Silva Will Slot Seamlessly Into Real Sociedad's Young, Vibrant Side

David Silva's departure from Manchester City has brought his decade of creative artistry on English shores to a close. He may soon be cast in bronze outside the Etihad, but there is plenty more time to gawp at Silva's brilliance.

Rather than cashing in eye-watering checks further west or east, the attacking midfielder dubbed 'El Mago' - The Magician - has returned to La Liga. But instead of a reunion with his former side Valencia, Silva has joined an attack-minded, youth-infused Real Sociedad team.

As Willian José rolled the ball past Eibar's Marko Dmitrovic the shouts of celebration from Real Sociedad's bench echoed throughout a barren Ipurúa. In the final La Liga match before the coronavirus pandemic put an abrupt halt to normality, la Real's 2-1 win over their Basque rivals sent them into fourth place.

Yet, while the points haul of Imanol Alguacil's side pre-lockdown was very impressive, the manner in which they accrued this tally was even more noteworthy.

Fast, fluid and fun.

Sociedad spent the first seven months of the season enthralling their fans and winning the admiration of others with free-flowing, attacking football. Alguacil explained the philosophy he sends his side out with: "The idea is clear: we will not wait, we won’t hedge our bets, we will always go for them, try to score as many goals as we can – and as long as I am sitting here, that will be the case,” as quoted by The Guardian.

La Real's side is packed full of nimble, technically gifted players, comfortable keeping the ball under pressure - a skillset Silva certainly possesses. Sociedad are keen to keep the ball and press the opposition to win it back quickly. The rapidity of their attack and the interchanging of positions from that front line has also captured the imagination.

Sociedad - the side with the second-most goals from counter-attacks in La Liga last season - were deserving of their comparisons to 'a storm' and 'a tsunami' by the Spanish media.

In a campaign filled with a bevvy of sparkling performances, Sociedad peaked in their Copa del Rey quarter-final dismantling of Real Madrid in February.

20-year-old striker Alexander Isak netted two that night while Madrid-loanee Martin Odegaard opened the scoring against his parent club. Like so many Sociedad players, Odegaard has enjoyed the best campaign of his career to date as the side's midfielder with the most licence to attack.

In fact, Odegaard's form has been so impressive that the Norway international has returned to the Spanish capital in an attempt to break into Madrid's first team. While they may be at wildly differing stages in their career, Sociedad have effectively replaced Odegaard with Silva.

In the 2018/19 campaign, la Real were already the youngest side in the division, a ranking they maintained last year with an average starting XI age of less than 25. This embryonic Sociedad side were able to reap the benefits of the experience brought by the former Arsenal full-back Nacho Monreal last season.

Silva - who has played more than 450 top flight matches and 100 in European competition - can certainly be held up as an example for his younger teammates.

Manchester City Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak stressed the influence Silva has had off the field when announcing the Spaniard would be honoured with a statue, saying: "David Silva is a transformational player; a quiet leader who has acted quietly and deliberately and inspired everyone around him, from the youngest academy player to his senior teammates over the past ten years."

While the 33-year-old will certainly be able to offer a word of advice or encouragement here and there, Silva is very much capable of having a more direct impact on the pitch.

Silva has certainly been conspicuous by his absence from City's most important matches of the season - he was afforded a total of 15 minutes across the club's Champions League knockout ties. However, when he has been on the pitch, the left-footed midfielder has continued to do what he does best - teeing up teammates with ten more Premier League assists this term.

The World Cup winner would be able to comfortably pick these passes as one of the two central midfielders in Sociedad's commonly used 4-1-4-1 alongside the more disciplined Mikel Merino.

Silva may be approaching the end of his career but la Real are a vibrant, malleable side that play the type of football the former Manchester City man has become a master of in the past decade.

Both parties will profit from this transfer but the main beneficiaries will be the lucky fans packing into the Anoeta to see El Mago wield the wizardry left in his boots.