Bernardo Silva
Pep Guardiola says that Bernardo Silva is now back at the level that made him “the best player in England”. The Manchester City star shone as the Blues pulled off a superb 1-0 win at Chelsea to force themselves back into the Premier League front runners. Asked to play deeper than usual, the all-action Bernardo garnished his usual astonishing work rate with moments of class and tactical acumen, and afterwards earned the praise of Guardiola, who believes he is back to the standard he set when named City’s player of the year in the title-winning 2018-19 season. City were exceptional at Stamford Bridge and Bernardo offered extra security to the defensive triangle of Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte and Rodri.
Pep Guardiola said: “What a performance today! He’s so intuitive. It’s not his role as a holding midfielder but he knows exactly how to play it and how to anticipate what is going to happen, with the ball or without the ball. Our build-up helped us to make the extra pass and defensively … how many crosses? They knew how tough it was. Second half, Chelsea made a lot of passes and he was an exceptional player. All I want is for Bernardo to be happy, here or anywhere. All I want is his happiness because he’s a guy that deserves the best.”
Bernardo has made it plain for the past two summer transfer windows that he wants to leave City to return to Spain or Portugal, but with the Blues wanting a large chunk of their £43million outlay back, the Covid crisis has meant buyers able to afford the asking price have not been evident. So Bernardo has had to swallow his disappointment and knuckle down – and has been a regular this season in a team with plenty of top-class options.
Pep Guardiola said: “Against Norwich he played exceptional, against Arsenal he played exceptional, Southampton he play at the level of the team – that was not good, our build-up was not good. How well he played (at Chelsea) is no surprise. How many times have we seen it? How many times? He was an incredible signing for us because he’s an exceptional person. I never forget the second Premier League we won, with 98 points, he was the best player in England. He was nominated (for an award) but he was the best. After that season, later he dropped a little bit, he was not in the position but now he’s back and hopefully he can help us. If, at the end, he wants to leave and decides (to go) the only thing I can say is that the guy or the club that gets Bernardo is going to take one of the best players in the world.”
City have not entirely given up on Bernardo having change of heart – he is under contract until 2025 after signing a new deal in 2019, so there is no financial incentive to sell him. And Guardiola says the player, who wants to go for personal reasons, has been showing no signs of being unhappy, a factor that contributed to his dip in form in the 2019-20 season.
Pep Guardiola said: “You cannot play in this way if you are not happy, it’s impossible. People are happy when they do something with concentration, you cannot be happy when you do something, when you are not concentrating, it’s impossible. To be happy is really good. To play good it’s because he’s here and that makes us so proud.”
