Gilberto Silva, also known as Gilberto Aparecido da Silva, was born on October 7th, 1976 in Lagoa da Prata, Minas Gerais is a Brazilian footballer currently playing for the English Arsenal Club as a defensive midfielder. Gilberto Silva was raised in a poor Brazilian family where as a child he was faced with balancing football and other labour jobs to help finance his family. In 1988, Gilberto Silva was only twelve years old when he got the opportunity to break out of his lower class poverty by playing football by joining América Mineiro as a youth player. During his invaluable years as a youth player, Gilberto Silva was taught defensive discipline by playing a central defender. Due to the low wages at América Mineiro, Gilberto Silva was forced to quit his budding football career to take on various labourer jobs, his first being a carpenter where he worked in a sweet factory. After a total of three years a factory, Gilberto Silva tried his luck a second time by enrolling at a local club youth academy. In 1997, after another return to the factory, Gilberto Silva was convinced to give football a last chance and resign with América Mineiro on June 1, 1997 as a full time professional.
During his first season at with América Mineiro, Gilberto was viewed as a key player, which helped him gain promotion to Série A.
In 1997, Gilberto Silva began his football career with América Mineiro, where he earned a move to Atlético Mineiro in 2000. In 2000, Gilberto Silva became a star player for Atlético where he played for three years in the Brazilian national team going on to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup, where Gilberto played in all seven of Brazil’s matches. In August 2002, Gilberto Silva signed with Arsenal for a fee of £4.5 million, which whom he helped win the 2004 FA Premier League and two FA Cup trophies. Gilberto Silva scored in his first season alone, 23 goals in 208 games. In 2007, Gilberto Silva was selected as the Brazilian Captain for the Copa América tournament, which Brazil went on to win.
Gilberto Silva has been an all-too present footballer for the past campaigns, and managed ten Premiership goals and four more than his previous four campaigns combined. Gilberto Silva has always been a reliable source for under pressure matches. Gilberto Silva is the Arsenal World Cup winner, proving that he can win tackles, protect the back four and even distribute the ball calmly and effectively with immeasurable accuracy and expertise. Gilberto Silva’s performance at the 2002 FIFA World Cup caught the attention of many coaches. Gilberto Silva expressed his interest to move to England, “It would be fantastic to play against the likes of David Beckham again”.
