Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has stated that he will be "so happy" when David Silva signs a new contract with The Citizens, with the Spaniard set to start in Wednesday's clash with Southampton.

I hope he will continue for the next years

Silva was one of the first major recruits of the Sheikh revolution which began traction following their takeover in 2008, with Silva making his move from Valencia in July 2010 following Spain's World Cup win.

In the following seven years Silva is now regarded as one of the best players to pull on the sky blue of the Manchester club, but has gone under the radar slightly with the excellent performances of the likes of; Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sané and Sergio Agüero.

However Silva's statistics speak for themselves with eight Premier League assists two more than Sané and De Bruyne, Silva's current deal is set to run out at 2019 but has spoken of his desire of extending to a decade of service and Guardiola stated his hope of seeing him in Eastlands for some time yet.

"When he can finally sign the contract we'll be so happy," Guardiola told his pre-match press conference about the Spaniard. "The club needs players who've played here for a long time to help players like Phil Foden in the future."

"I put a lot of attention on how players react in bad moments, during the game and in bad situations," the coach stated. "David is always there and that's so important for the club."

"Like Yaya Toure, Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta, and many other players, he's a real legend for this club," the Catalan added. "I hope he'll continue for the next years."

Eight points is nothing

Silva has been one of the many components in what has been City's excellent start to the campaign, as they will look to extend their unbeaten run to 19 matches with Wednesday's visit of Southampton.

They have been storming all competitions that they have participated thus far but pushed to edge on Sunday as they made the short trip to Huddersfield Town, but a late winner from Raheem Sterling secured the narrow 2-1 victory.

Manchester United's significant 4-2 victory over Watford on Tuesday night meant the gap between the sides was back down to five points, Guardiola stated that the priority will be to regain their eight-point gap but it is "absolutely nothing" as there is still 70 to play for.

"The only way I know to deal with this situation is not to think too much in the future," he said. "Stay as much as possible in the present, and think about Southampton, and know you still have about another 70 points to play for - so a lead of eight is absolutely nothing."

"So eight points in front, 70 to play, you have to stay calm," the coach proclaimed. "Be happy with what you have done, and excited about what you can do."

"We will lose games, we will play bad," Guardiola concluded. "But complacency won't happen."