Bernardo Silva back to his best as Man City brace themselves for Swiss Army knife midfielder's potential departure

While Bernardo’s performance against Liverpool showed how much he can still offer City in crunch moments, they got a warning of what life might look like without him when he was suspended for the recent trip to Bodo/Glimt. City were ripped apart by the Norwegian upstarts, with Rodri brutally exposed before he was sent off. That the Ballon d'Or winner was missing the assured presence of Bernardo to him was no coincidence.

Coping without Bernardo on a more permanent basis is a reality that City will have to confront soon, as the Portuguese seems far more out than in as he approaches the end of his contract at the Etihad Stadium. Reports of Bernardo wanting to leave City have been an annual recurrence, with the player never hiding his desire to return to the sunshine of southern Europe, having come through the ranks at Benfica before excelling at Monaco. 

Barcelona has been touted as a favoured destination for several years, and the Catalans wanted to sign Bernardo in 2023 but could not afford him, leading to the midfielder extending his contract with City. He has also talked about returning to Benfica on several occasions, and re-elected president Rui Costa said in November he was "absolutely convinced that he [Bernardo] wants to be a Benfica player". The Saudi Pro League has also emerged as a potential destination, having captured several of Bernardo’s Portugal team-mates in the last few years.

Bernardo has less than five months left on his current contract, and he has barely hidden his intentions when it comes to his next move.

"I know exactly what I'm going to do, but it's not the time to talk about it," he said at the end of September. "It's time to focus on Man City, to try to do my best to try to put the club back where it belongs. We know that we've had a lot of captains who have left in the past, but it's the guys who have the most experience to pass it to the young guys, and hopefully they will be the next ones to pass that experience."

That was as good as an admission that he was going to leave without Bernardo confirming it, and as hiss impending departure gets closer, City fans are beginning to realise just how important he has been to their recent history - and how important he still is. That is credit to the midfielder, because this time last year he was made one of the scapegoats for their terrible campaign, and no shortage of fans online seemed to be ushering him out of the door.

There is a recent trend among City supporters on social media to blame Bernardo every time their team loses, and there was a simple reason for that last season. The Portuguese was always fit amid a squad-wide injury crisis last term, and he thus became an obvious target during their terrible run of results between October and March, starting nine of the 12 games City failed to win in that period.

Bernardo also seemed to be lumped into the narrative that City’s squad was too old and worn out. He was one of six players in the squad on the wrong side of 30, and it was true that their midfield and attack, which also featured Ilkay Gundogan, Mateo Kovacic, Kevin De Bruyne, often lacked the necessary pace and power in an increasingly physical Premier League.

That criticism seemed to grate with Bernardo, and it came to a head in an angry exchange with journalists after the FA Cup quarter-final win at Bournemouth. Since then, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Ederson and Kyle Walker have left permanently, Jack Grealish and Manuel Akanji have gone out on loan, and John Stones and Kovacic have been injured for practically the whole season.  

It has left Bernardo as the most experienced player in the squad of those who play regularly, one of seven treble winners still around and the only player, alongside Stones, who has won all six Premier League titles with Guardiola.

Age has admittedly caught up with Bernardo in some respects. Last season, it was revealed that he had the lowest top speed of all outfield players in the Premier League, for example.

His 74 goals and 78 assists in 441 matches might also seem low compared to other City greats like De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, David Silva or Yaya Toure, and is one of the reasons why he receives criticism when things go wrong. But that does not do justice to the versatile role he has played in his nine years at the club.

Bernardo has so many dimensions to his game. As he has aged, his tenacity, positioning and ability to read the game have held City together. He has also not lost his technical quality, his touch, passing ability nor his dribbling. He is the archetypal Swiss Army knife who can play in every position in midfield, from an occasional anchor to a box-to-box operator, No.10 or on the left or right wing.

Against Liverpool, he played effectively all over the pitch, switching wings in the second half. In some ways, it was surprising that Bernardo was the player who equalised at Anfield, given it was his first Premier League goal of the season. But it shouldn’t have been a shock, given he always tends to make his mark in the biggest games. He has now scored four times against Liverpool, in addition to the four assists he has provided against City’s fiercest domestic rival over the last decade.

He has also scored four times against City's eternal enemy, Manchester United, while contributing four assists. And against Real Madrid, City’s greatest foe on the European stage, he has scored four times, including twice in the 4-0 thumping in the 2023 semi-final second leg.

"He is one of the best players I have ever trained with," Guardiola added at Anfield. "He is the perfect captain. It is a joy for me as a manager to have him. His contribution is massive, and he is one of the legends of this club."

In a squad that has been radically renewed in the last three transfer windows, Bernardo is the player everyone looks to. He is comfortable in that role, as he was able to stand on the shoulders of giants when he joined the club from Monaco in 2017.

"I just do the same that David Silva, Vincent Kompany, Fernandinho, Kun Aguero did to me when I arrived: pass all the experience, information as possible," he explained. "I know exactly how the manager wants to play, what this club demands, the standards this club demands, and try to be an example on the pitch."

Last summer, Guardiola broke with the tradition of letting the squad choose their captain and personally picked Bernardo as skipper, perhaps as a nod to it being the midfielder's final chance to lead the team out. Guardiola, whose own future at City is also up in the air, has appeared resigned to the fact that this is going to be Bernardo’s last season with the club.

"I would love for him to stay forever," he said last summer. "But we’ve talked a lot, and he has to decide what’s best for him and his family. Whatever happens, in 10 years he will still be remembered as one of the greatest players in this club’s history. He’s a competitor, he has fire in his eyes. Hopefully he can spread that fire to the rest of the group."

Bernardo showed at Anfield that his fire still burns bright, and if this is to be his final season, he is determined to leave it on a high by adding to the 18 trophies he has hoisted in sky blue. Last season was his only trophy-less campaign with City, and he stressed that they are still in all four competitions. As he admitted, that number looked like being three heading into the final 10 minutes on Merseyside, but now Arsenal know they still have a massive fight on their hands to win the title.

But even if City do manage to chase the Gunners down and Bernardo collects his seventh league title in nine seasons, they will likely still have to confront the daunting challenge of replacing their irrepressible, do-it-all midfielder.