Stand by for a day of high emotion at the Etihad Stadium next May when David Silva salutes the Manchester City fans for one last time. The 33-year-old Spain international said earlier this week that he plans to leave the club at the end of next season, which will be his 10th in Manchester.

When Silva arrived at the club in 2010, they were only two years into the Abu Dhabi group’s ownership and were still looking to break into the top four in the Premier League. By the time the iconic winger says his final goodbye in just over 10 months’ time, he could depart with five league titles to his name and a third Premier League triumph in a row.

Silva’s status as one of the Premier League’s greatest ever Spaniards is beyond question. These fellow countrymen have also added plenty to England’s top flight over the last two decades...

Adrian

Only a year after being promoted to Real Betis’ first team, the goalkeeper was brought to West Ham by Sam Allardyce in summer 2013. He had to wait four months until making his Premier League debut but, by the season’s end, he had supplanted Jussi Jaaskelainen as the Hammers’ first choice goalkeeper.

Perhaps his most memorable West Ham moment came in an FA Cup penalty shoot-out against Everton – not for saving a spot kick, but for scoring one that took his team into the next round. He was a hugely popular figure among Hammers fans but had to play second fiddle to Lukasz Fabianski last season and he was released last month after 43 clean sheets in 150 appearances for the club.

Marcos Alonso

The full-back first came to the Premier League with Bolton in 2010 and, despite being relegated two years later, stuck with the club for one season in the Championship. He returned to the top flight in 2014 with a loan spell at Sunderland and helped to keep them up, but he will be best remembered for his time at Chelsea.

Antonio Conte signed him from Fiorentina for £24million in 2016 and Alonso became a mainstay of the team that won the Premier League the following season. While Chelsea’s two subsequent campaigns have been disappointing, the left-back has provided an impressive total of 18 goals in three years, including a famous double against Tottenham in August 2017.

Xabi Alonso

The midfielder was among Rafael Benitez’s first signings at Liverpool in 2004 and he quickly made a name for himself as an exceptional passer of the ball. He scored the Reds’ equaliser in the 2005 Champions League final and was hailed as one of the team’s best players that season.

He twice scored from his own half for Liverpool, against Luton in an FA Cup tie and Newcastle in a league game later in 2006. Despite consistently strong performances from Alonso, Benitez unsuccessfully pursued Gareth Barry in summer 2008 and the relationship between the Spanish pair was soured. He left a year later as an Anfield legend.

Mikel Arteta

The midfielder initially joined Everton on loan in January 2005 before solid performances in helping the Toffees finish fourth persuaded David Moyes to sign him permanently. He won a series of individual accolades at Goodison Park during a six-year spell in which he was part of the furniture in a consistently high-performing Everton team.

He couldn’t resist the lure of Arsenal in 2011, moving to north London from Merseyside, and finished out the remaining five years of his playing career at the Emirates. He captained the Gunners to victory in the 2014 FA Cup final and was soon given the armband full-time. In 11 years in the Premier League, he scored 42 goals in 284 games.

Cesar Azpiliceta

The man affectionately known as ‘Dave’ has been one of the few constants at Chelsea over the last seven years. He cost only £7m from Marseille in 2012 and helped the club to a Europa League triumph in his first season at Stamford Bridge. He was Chelsea’s Player of the Season the following year, drawing huge praise from manager Jose Mourinho.

Azpilicueta won two Premier League titles in his next three seasons, playing every single minute of the 2016/17 triumph under Antonio Conte. He played in a centre-back three under the Italian, a departure from his usual left-back role. He has already racked up 235 Premier League games for Chelsea and has continually impressed a succession of managers.

Bruno

Very few players make their Premier League debut at 36, but that was Bruno’s reward for five years of sterling service to Brighton when they reached the top flight in 2017. The veteran right-back was a steady presence for the Seagulls in their inaugural Premier League season, playing a captain’s role as they beat the drop.

A hamstring injury in the early weeks of last season curtailed his involvement for 2018/19, but just as Brighton were looking destined for relegation and helped them to cling to their Premier League status before retiring at the end of the season. Bruno was the embodiment of a committed, unselfish right-back who was a gladiatorial figure at the Amex Stadium.

Santi Cazorla

The attacking midfielder joined Arsenal from Malaga in 2012 and he became an instant hit at the Emirates, scoring 12 goals and providing as many assists in his first season. He was a constant presence in the side that won the 2014 FA Cup, a trophy he helped them to retain the following year.

Cazorla frequently appeared near (or at) the top of Premier League assists and passing accuracy tables but a knee injury in November 2015 set in motion a string of injury problems that led to skin grafts being added to an infected Achilles tendon. It was not an appropriate way for such a gifted and honest player’s Premier League career to end.

Diego Costa

The hot-tempered striker arrived at Chelsea in 2014 and he made an instant impact in England, scoring seven goals in his first four games. He was in the PFA’s Team of the Year and scored 20 goals as Chelsea won the Premier League in his first season in London.

Sadly, Costa’s time in England was marred by controversial incidents such as a stamp on Steven Gerrard and a nasty challenge on fellow Spaniard Adrian. He was a damn good player, though, hitting another 20 goals in the Blues’ 2017 league triumph before being told by Antonio Conte via text that he was free to leave Chelsea, which he did later that year.

Gerard Deulofeu

Having been unable to break into Barcelona’s first team, the talented forward signed on loan for Everton in 2013 at the start of Roberto Martinez’s reign. He caught at the eye at Goodison Park as he helped the Toffees to finish in the top six, being recalled by Barcelona in summer 2014.

Just over a year later, he was back at Everton permanently but did not have the same impact second time around. Since joining Watford in January 2018, though, Deulofeu has evolved into a consistent performer with far greater end product, scoring 10 goals in 30 games for the Hornets last season.

David de Gea

Edwin van der Sar would be a tough act to follow at Manchester United and a mistake on De Gea’s Premier League debut did not bode well. However, after being dismissed as too physically light to succeed in English football, the goalkeeper bulked up and soon showed that he was even better than his predecessor as United’s number one.

Indeed, he went on to be widely regarded as the best goalkeeper in the world. He was in the PFA Team of the Year four times in a row from 2015 to 2018 and has constantly produced logic-defying saves and imperious performances, such as that at the Emirates in 2017 and against Tottenham last season.

Cesc Fabregas

The midfielder joined Arsenal as a 16-year-old in 2003 and broke into the first team that included most of the ‘Invincibles’ squad the following season. He stepped into the midfield breach left by Patrick Vieira and grew into a key player for the Gunners before being named club captain in 2008.

Fabregas returned to boyhood club Barcelona three years later before joining Chelsea in 2014. He missed out on Arsenal’s most recent Premier League triumph but won the title twice with the Blues, scoring a total of 50 goals in 350 games across his two spells in England. He has the second most assists of any player in Premier League history.

Luis Garcia

The attacker was part of Rafael Benitez’s Spanish revolution at Liverpool in 2004 and, despite cutting a frustrating figure at times and being mocked for his Alice band hairstyle, he charmed his way into Kopite hearts with spectacular goals in big games, such as his majestic lob against Juventus during the victorious Champions League campaign of 2004/05.

Garcia also scored decisive semi-final goals against Chelsea in two competitions at a time when the clubs had an intense rivalry. A cruciate ligament injury in 2007 brought his Liverpool career to an abrupt end but, to this day, he is still regularly saluted in song by the Kop.

Ander Herrera

Following multiple attempts to sign the midfielder from Athletic Bilbao, Manchester United finally got their man in June 2014. Despite playing in a defensive midfield role, he had a steady scoring record at Old Trafford, netting 21 times in 132 Premier League games across five seasons.

Herrera’s combative nature came in for criticism from rival clubs’ fans but he was warmly appreciated by United supporters, if not always their managers, as he flitted in and out of the first team. He was always wholehearted in his play, though, and was a deserving recipient of the club’s Player of the Year award in 2016/17. He recently left the club upon expiry of his contract.

Juan Mata

The creative midfielder joined Chelsea from Valencia in summer 2011 and won both European competitions in his first two seasons to go with his world and continental titles for Spain. Only David Silva provided more Premier League assists in his first season at Chelsea but he was strangely benched by Jose Mourinho for the first half of the 2013/14 campaign.

Mata transferred to Manchester United in January 2014 and his two goals in the win over Liverpool at Anfield in March 2015 earned him iconic status with United fans and he became a hugely popular figure throughout the sport for his frequent kind gestures. He recently extended his contract at Old Trafford for another two years.

Gaizka Mendieta

One of the finest players in Europe in the early 21st century, he made a surprise loan move to Middlesbrough in 2003, having previously played with Barcelona and Valencia. In his first season on Teesside, he won the League Cup with ‘Boro and signed permanently the following summer.

While Mendieta’s best years were spent in his homeland rather than in England, he still showed some of his undoubted technical genius during his time with Middlesbrough. Unfortunately, injuries caught up with him towards the mid-2000s and his career fizzled out to its conclusion, but he was a wonderfully gifted footballer.

Michu

The forward was an unknown in English football when Swansea picked him up for just £2m in July 2012 but he had an exceptional first season in the Premier League. He scored twice on his Swans debut and ended the season with 19 goals while also winning the League Cup with the club.

Alas, that was as good as it got for Michu at Swansea. He only scored two league goals the following season and ended up on loan at Napoli before leaving south Wales permanently in 2015 as injuries intervened. He may have been a one-season wonder in the Premier League, but he remains one of the greatest bargains at this level in recent years.

Pepe Reina

Even Jerzy Dudek’s Champions League final heroics couldn’t deter Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez from signing Reina in 2005 and instantly making him first choice at Anfield. He amassed eight straight clean sheets during his first season in England and saved three penalties in the FA Cup final shoot-out win over West Ham in 2006.

Reina kept 20 clean sheets for the Reds as they came close to winning the league in 2009 but errors became more frequent in his latter years at the club before he left in 2013. Still, an excellent clean sheet record of 177 in 395 Liverpool games ensures his status as their best goalkeeper of the last 30 years.

Jose Antonio Reyes

The striker was one of Europe’s hottest young properties when Arsenal signed him in January 2004, playing a bit-part role in the Gunners’ ‘Invincibles’ line-up. An eventful first full season in England then saw him score in each of his first six games before losing form and being sent off in the FA Cup final.

He bounced back strongly in 2005/06, though, as a key player in Arsenal’s journey to the Champions League final before returning to Spain late that year, having scored 16 goals in 69 league games for the Gunners. He was tragically killed in a car crash at 35 on 1 June 2019.

Fernando Torres

The lethal striker nicknamed ‘El Nino’ signed for fellow countryman Rafael Benitez at Liverpool in summer 2007 and became an instant hit at Anfield, scoring on his home debut against Chelsea and ending the season as the Premier League’s joint second highest scorer with 24 goals.

He formed a devastating partnership with Steven Gerrard in his three and a half years with Liverpool, scoring 65 times in 102 league games, before a shock £50m move to Chelsea in 2011. He never recaptured his Liverpool form for the Blues but still won both European club competitions and deserves to be hailed as one of the world’s best players in his prime.

David Silva

Last but not least, we have sensational David Silva. Signed for £25.88m from Valencia in 2010, he has become one of Manchester City’s greatest ever players. He claimed four goals and 15 assists in his first season in England and was one of City’s best players in their first Premier League triumph in 2012; he has since won three more league titles.

Silva’s standards never dropped during his time at the Etihad Stadium and he is one of those players who is universally liked and respected in football. So he should be, his exceptional trickery and impressive goal tally (71 in 396 City appearances) earning him the right to be remembered as perhaps the best Spanish player ever to grace the Premier League.