Patrick Vieira and Dennis Bergkamp were two players who are widely considered as legends of the game.
The pair ran riot for Arsenal, combining technical excellence with brute force to dominate the Premier League for years.
Vieira played for Manchester City as well during the latter years of his career and managed to lift the FA Cup in 2011.
Patrick Vieira even went on to coach the Elite Development Squad (EDS) and one of the City Football Group’s clubs in New York City FC to kickstart his managerial career.
Patrick Vieira compares David Silva to Dennis Bergkamp
During his time at the Etihad Stadium, Patrick Vieira managed to play with several players who went on to become Manchester City legends such as Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and David Silva.
However, the World Cup winner saw them at stages of their careers where they were not universally regarded as City icons.
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But in David Silva, Patrick Vieira saw a special player go from strength to strength as he told Manchester City’s official magazine that he reminded him of Dennis Bergkamp: David Silva? He was class, simple as that. I didn’t play long with him but for me, he was the team player. I think David Silva would want others to shine more than him. He was the Dennis Bergkamp of City.”
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“He would want to please his teammates more than he would want to please himself.”
Patrick Vieira emphasised that much like Dennis Bergkamp, David Silva was a team player: “Dennis was like that. He would prefer to assist rather than score the goal because he enjoyed that more.”
“David gave a lot to his team rather than score the goal because he enjoyed that more. David gave a lot to his team rather than worry about himself. He was a team player.”
David Silva and Dennis Bergkamp stats compared
Paul Scholes named David Silva as Spain’s greatest player, which goes to show that he is held in high esteem by some of the greatest midfielders of all time.
Now, Patrick Vieira has also likened Silva to Dennis Bergkamp, who is considered one of the most elegant players the game has ever seen and a true genius.
Judging by the stats, the former Inter Milan attacker has the edge on the four-time Premier League winner.
ALL-TIME STATS DAVID SILVA DENNIS BERGKAMP
APPEARANCES 904 816
GOALS 159 306
ASSISTS 231 173
While David Silva provided more assists (231) and played more games (804), Dennis Bergkamp had more goal contributions than the Spaniard (477 as compared to 390).
However, Bergkamp was a second striker while Silva was more of a number 10, which explains why the former was more productive than the World Cup winner.