Pep Lijnders has confirmed that Bernardo Silva will leave Manchester City this summer and hopes the captain is afforded a deserving farewell.
Silva took over the armband this season and has been an integral component of the raise in standards across Pep Guardiola’s squad after last year’s dip.
The Portugal international made it clear to reporters at the Club World Cup last June that this would be his final campaign but has stopped short of making an official announcement.
Silva is gunning to secure a seventh Premier League title before his departure, with City nine points behind leaders Arsenal with a game in hand.
‘Bernardo Silva is unique,’ Lijnders said. ‘It will be hard because in a game when he is not playing you will see how he is missed – and that’s [only] one game.
Bernardo Silva is leaving Manchester City this summer – and could move to America
Silva wants to finish with more trophies after Saturday’s 4-0 FA Cup win over Liverpool
‘Imagine a season. But every good story comes to an end, and I hope he enjoys the last months – there are only six weeks – and has a good farewell. He deserves all that attention.’
Silva has twice come close to leaving City, particularly during Covid. Paris Saint-Germain were the strongest suitors but offered significantly lower than the £70million valuation.
The 31-year-old, who believes it is too early for a return to Benfica, has options in MLS while Juventus have hoped to persuade him into signing.
Barcelona are long-standing admirers, with Silva’s friend Ilkay Gundogan at Galatasaray.
Despite spending nine years at the Etihad Stadium, Silva has not always jived with English culture and recently admitted that were City stationed in southern Europe, he would stay until being ‘kicked out’.
Silva admitted: ‘If Manchester City was in Lisbon, I’d stay until I’m 40. I truly love the football club, my team-mates, staff, fans, stadium, atmosphere – everything about my professional life.
Silva and his wife Ines long for a life in southern Europe – despite his love of Man City
‘“I have two sides of my life; I have the football side of my life, the professional side of my life, and then my life at home, where my wife and my daughter right now are really, really important to me.
‘So, I definitely need a balance and to understand throughout my life, I always make decisions together with my wife, what was best for our family. Culturally, Portuguese and English are quite different; the weather is very different, the food is very different, the way of living is not very different but a bit different.’
Phil Foden will be the only remaining member of the 2018 record-breaking Centurions squad following the impending departures of Silva and John Stones on free transfers.
‘I didn’t like Bernardo before,’ grinned ex-Liverpool assistant Lijnders. ‘Now I love him. The way he feels the game, what’s needed. There are not many like him; when to drop, when to make a move 20 metres away from Rodri.
‘He feels the task to play well, to make the team play well. These are the type of players, when they are not playing, you will feel it.’
