David Silva
Spain's David Silva (R) is challenged by Venezuela's Quijada during their international friendly soccer match at La Rosaleda stadium in Malaga February 29, 2012 Reuters

English champions Manchester City are moving with alacrity to ensure they will not lose attacking midfielder David Silva to Spanish champions Real Madrid. Jose Mourinho's club has been linked with a move for the former Valencia star and speculated transfer fees ranging from £30mn (The Sun) to £50mn (Daily Star) have been bandied about.

Silva transferred to the Etihad from Spanish club Valencia in July 2010, for a fee of £24mn, and has since established himself as one Roberto Mancini's most outstanding performers as well as a fan favourite. He was voted runner-up in the poll for the club's Player of the Year for the 2010/11 campaign and the Player's Player of the Year for the 2011/12 season, as well as being named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year for 2011/12.

His performances with club and country (he is on duty with the Spanish national team for the 2012 European Championship and has started all four games so far, scoring once and assisting on three others) have alerted Mourinho and Real Madrid, who were rumoured to be interested but took no concrete action back in 2010.

The Daily Mail now reports that City chiefs are set to offer David Silva, who has two years left on his present deal, a whopping £52mn five year contract to stay on with them. The deal includes wages of nearly £200,000 per week, putting the player in the same category as Ivorian international Yaya Toure and Argentineans Carlos Tevez and Sergio Agüero. Fortunately for City officials, Silva himself has admitted he would love to stay on in England.

"In only two years in Manchester I have been able to win the most prestigious titles in England: the FA Cup on 2011 and the Premier League on 2012. That's thanks everyone of my teammates and thanks of everybody who, day after day, is supporting us from his seat in Etihad Stadium or from his house. I feel very comfortable here from I arrived and nowadays I have just felt like a complete 'Citizen' man," the player wrote on his official Web site.

Real Madrid