Pep Guardiola showed the Premier League’s top six that he means business with the first major transfer of the summer, signing Monaco midfielder Bernardo Silva. The 22-year old Portuguese international was the best player on the field in both meetings between Monaco and Manchester City in this season’s Champions League and having been mooted as a top target for many of Europe's elite clubs, it makes sense that Guardiola moved quickly to sign him.
The Portuguese controls the game much like new teammate and fellow Iberian David Silva. Arguably Manchester City’s best-ever player, David Silva is heading into his eighth campaign at City and can be a great mentor for the former Benfica man before passing the torch. Now 31, the Spaniard represents a gold standard for attacking midfielders and for Manchester City players that Silva should hope to emulate and soon replace.
At 22, Bernardo Silva represents the latest in a recent youth movement of City purchases. Guardiola is beginning to filter out the stars that brought a title each to predecessors Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini and create a team in his own image. Guardiola quickly dismissed England No. 1 Joe Hart and banished club legend Yaya Toure for a time this season but failed to find acceptable replacements for either. Claudio Bravo was more Swiss cheese than goalkeeper and after Ilkay Gundogan’s third major injury in three years, no one in the squad could properly fill Toure’s role, so the Ivorian was welcomed back into the team.
Every new manager wants to create a team around their philosophy, and Guardiola has begun the process of properly replacing the old guard. With no immediate successors available, the Spaniard dragged along players like Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandr Kolarov this season — both full-backs loved by City fans but clearly past their usefulness. Toure is expected to receive a contract extension mostly because Manchester City don’t have anyone ready to replace him, as Gundogan simply can’t be trusted to play a full season.
Although the Spanish international’s eventual departure will surely be a sad day for the club, City fans have to be excited that Pep has brought in a like-for-like replacement before David Silva completely loses his world-class cluster. The midfield magician was always going to be one of the most difficult to replace of City’s ageing core, but there may not be a better fit than Bernardo.
Unlike City’s all-time assist leader, the Portuguese is currently a better scorer than he is a passer — 28 senior goals compared to 19 assists — and operates better on the right wing than in the middle. Training every day and playing alongside world-class passers like David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne should do wonders for his goal creation.
Bernardo Silva has played both in the middle and on the right wing for Monaco, scoring the majority of his goals from the centre while getting more assists as a winger. The Portuguese international could fit alongside the Belgian with fellow youngsters Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling on the wings.
With Bernardo’s signing, Manchester City now sport one of the youngest yet most dangerous attacks in all of Europe. Sterling, Sane, Gabriel Jesus and Bernardo are all under-23 while De Bruyne will only turn 26 this summer. Monaco and Borussia Dortmund spent this past season playing under the “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough” mantra and both made it farther than the Sky Blues in the Champions League — the competition Guardiola was hired to win above all else.
The time was eventually going to come when club legends like Zabaleta, Toure and Silva would need to be replaced and Guardiola has put the wheels in motion. He was hired partially to reduce the club's average age while maintaining its quality and this is a signing in that direction. City fans will be forever indebted to the stars of their two recent title-winning campaigns but the time has come to bring in the next generation of Sky Blues.
https://video.footballfancast.com/video-2015/record-transfers.mp4