“It took me to another level” – Bernardo Silva pays homage to Pep Guardiola as Manchester City time nears end

Manchester City playmaker Bernardo Silva has expressed his gratitude to Pep Guardiola for all he has learnt working with the Catalan at the Etihad Stadium.

Silva has established himself as one of City’s greatest ever players since his £43 million arrival to England from AS Monaco in the summer of 2017.

The 31-year-old has helped the Blues lift six Premier League titles, a maiden UEFA Champions League en route to a historic treble and a plethora of cup titles over the course of an illustrious, trophy-laden career in Manchester.

Guardiola and the Manchester City board will be dreading Silva’s upcoming departure should the Portuguese midfielder decide to leave when his contract expires in June, with no indications as yet of talks over a renewal.

However, a final decision on Silva’s intentions is not expected to be made public till the end of the season as Manchester City remain in the running for an unprecedented quadruple.

This term more so than ever, Guardiola has hailed Silva as one of the best players he has ever had the fortune of working with as the Benfica academy graduate looks to spearhead a new-look, young Manchester City dressing room back to winning titles after a subpar 2024-25 season.

In an interview for the March issue of Manchester City’s official magazine, Silva has responded to the ultimate compliment from his manager.

“It’s a huge honour for a manager like Pep (Guardiola), probably the best ever, to say the things he does because when you hear that from him, it makes you realise that he really enjoys working with you – so it’s a huge privilege,” Silva said.

“I think in football, you have a mix of two things. One is the intuition of that comes from the streets – when you’re a kid and how you played back then. It’s because at the end, football will always be about feeling about emotions, about intuition, about these kind of things.

“And then there’s the part of and understanding the game and trying to learn. And I think the part of being competitive, the part of intuition, the part of loving the game, of passion.

“It’s always been there for me, and then when I joined City, and when I joined Pep, even though that I felt like I was already a player that understood really well the game, it took me to another level.”

Should this be his final season at the Etihad Stadium, Silva will be given the sendoff of all sendoffs when the time comes and club bosses will no doubt go on to honour the first-team skipper with a statue – in similar fashion to the likes of Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne.