Bernardo Silva to bid farewell to Man City: Club confirm exit at end of 2025/26 season

City finally confirmed the news on April 16. In a letter to fans, the player said: "When I arrived 9 years ago, I was following a dream of a little boy, wanting to succeed in life, wanting to achieve great things. This city and this club gave me much more than that, much more than I ever hoped for. What we won and achieved together is a legacy that will forever be cherished in my heart."

Silva has earned a place among the top bracket of club greats who have called time on their City careers over the past decade. He is worthy of mention alongside the likes of Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne, having been integral to the vast majority of City's success under Guardiola since signing from Monaco for £43.5 million ($56.6m) in May 2017.

Guardiola's own future remains somewhat unclear beyond this season, despite him having a contract until June 2027. After a 3-0 win over West Ham United in December, the Catalan described Silva as "my weakness, my favourite one", and not without good reason.

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How will Man City replace Bernardo Silva?

Silva's departure does not come as a shock in itself, even if the entertainingly gregarious Lijnders giving the game away early was obviously not part of the plan. When the playmaker was confirmed as City's captain prior to the expanded FIFA Club World Cup in June, he flagged that he had already made up his mind on his future plans.

"I know what I'm going to do, but it's not the time to talk about that," Silva said. "I'm very focused on my season. I'm very focused on performing well for Man City. When the time is due, I will talk about it. I have one year on my contract, so obviously, I can leave next season. This season will for sure be with Man City. I'm going to stay. I've had options in the past and this year, like last year and this year, my option is to stay at Man City."

Whether that means a return to boyhood club Benfica, or a jaunt elsewhere in Europe, to MLS or the Saudi Pro League, Silva will certainly not be short of options. For City, how they account for Silva moving on in the summer is more of a head-scratcher.

"You never replace a player with the same kind of player because they don't exist. Bernardo Silva is unique. The way he controls games, the way he moves, the way he receives, the way he leads, the way he sees the solutions," Lijnders said.

"You never search for a replacement of one type of player. You search for what is needed to grow with the team and somebody who can fit in the first XI. And then you hope, with our academy, with the young players we already bought, that they can make that step as well in the midfield positions."

Nottingham Forest's England midfielder Elliot Anderson has been reported as a City target over recent weeks, but it clearly will not be as simple as him or anyone else coming in and slotting into Silva's position.

City's refit over the past three transfer windows means Guardiola already has plenty of attacking midfield options, some of which could be repurposed slightly. Tijjani Reijnders has shown greater aptitude when bursting into the opposition box than in any defensive duties during a mixed first season in Manchester, but the Netherlands international certainly has the capabilities to play deeper. During the first few months of this season, Phil Foden took on a few more of the facilitating tasks most associated with Silva and played superbly. A shift to a deeper midfield role, mimicking the shift his Portuguese team-mate has made in Manchester, could help to revitalise Foden at an obviously tricky point in his career. When Silva leaves, he will be City's longest serving first-team player. Perhaps this should be his responsibility to take.

Rico Lewis and Mateo Kovacic, the latter recently back from a long-term injury, are other options to take on Bernardo's duties, but both probably have decisions to make over their futures. Nico O'Reilly, on the other hand, is locked in as a key part of City's plans for the next chapter. Once Josko Gvardiol returns to fitness, the England international might switch from left-back to his natural position in midfield more permanently. Although O'Reilly is not stylistically similar to Silva, he can become a different type of focal point.

The whole thing could be thrown into greater flux if Rodri batting his eyelashes at Real Madrid turns into something more substantive. Like Guardiola, the 2024 Ballon d'Or winner has a contract until June 2027, but it is not beyond the realms of possibility that he, Guardiola and Silva could all leave City this summer. That would be truly seismic.

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Bernardo Silva Man City career, trophies won

Silva's first year in Manchester was City's record-breaking 2017/18 season, when they won the Premier League with a 100-point haul. That was the first of six Premier League titles for the Portugal midfielder.

As they did last month, City also beat Arsenal in the 2018 Carabao Cup final. Silva has five winners' medals from that competition, along with two in the FA Cup. His most recent triumph in the latter competition came as part of City's 2022/23 treble. On the back of their 2023 UEFA Champions League final win over Inter Milan, success in both the UEFA Super Cup and the old FIFA Club World Cup followed.

It amounts to 16 major honours, with the possibility of one or two more before Silva waves goodbye to a fanbase that adores him.

He was immortalised in a song to the tune of Abba's 'Voulez-Vous' during City's 2018/19 domestic treble-winning season, a chant that endures to this day. In it, he is described as "running down the wing", but it's a long while since that was the brief of a scampering, scheming, s---housing delight of a footballer.

Bernardo Silva

Why Bernardo Silva is Pep Guardiola's favourite

Even though the teenage Kylian Mbappe enjoyed a breakout night for Monaco at the Etihad Stadium in 2017, it was Silva's performance in a thrilling Champions League last-16 encounter that stole the show. Guardiola had his head turned and his old ally, City's then director of football Txiki Begiristain, went about bringing Silva to Manchester three months later.

Silva was initially a dependable squad player as Raheem Sterling shone on the right wing and David Silva, De Bruyne and Gundogan took care of central playmaking duties. The 2018/19 season was when he made himself indispensable. After the 2-0 Community Shield win over Chelsea at Wembley, Guardiola described his team selection dilemma as "Bernardo plus 10 more". This equation has barely changed since, even though Silva's role within the team frequently has.

De Bruyne suffered an injury-plagued campaign during the domestic treble season, and Silva stepped into his shoes alongside namesake David as the team's creative hub. The 2-1 win over Jurgen Klopp's brilliant Liverpool team in January 2019 is often namechecked among the greatest games of the Guardiola era. Bernardo was the best player on the pitch in a victory that weighed heavily in the final analysis: City champions with 98 points, Liverpool runners-up with 97.

When Sergio Aguero's fading fitness and some transfer-market misses hastened City's 'false nine' era, the diminutive Silva was the most naturally and technically adept at playing as a floating central forward, something he did brilliantly in a 2020 Carabao Cup semifinal victory over Manchester United, when he silenced Old Trafford with a screaming strike. That was one of three goals he scored in away derbies, and Silva's relish for the needle in such fixtures further endeared him to City fans and irritated opponents. "I didn't like him before. Now, I love him," former Liverpool coach Lijnders chuckled at the weekend.

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Erling Haaland shifted City's reality from false nine to the realest nine possible, and Silva was crucial when it came to getting Guardiola's new-look team up and running. He started the treble season in midfield and briefly played as an inverted left-back as Guardiola refined his tactical schemes for the run-in. That featured Silva and Jack Grealish playing on the wings, allowing City to relentlessly smother opponents. Their zenith came with a 4-0 evisceration of Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinal, second leg. Fittingly, Silva scored both of his team's first-half goals.

Following City's record-breaking fourth Premier League title in a row in 2023/24, when Silva impressed in his new favourite position, shuttling alongside Rodri in central midfield, Guardiola and Begiristain erred in letting a great side grow old together. When their 2024/25 season collapsed amid a winter injury crisis, Silva, De Bruyne and Gundogan were all cast in an unflattering light. But Silva stuck around, as he has done despite almost annual transfer speculation, to turn the ship around as captain. It leaves a young City squad looking towards a bright future that they will soon face without their on-field leader.

"He has a special sense to compete, a sense of play. Bernie has incredible attributes to make a step up in bad moments. That is what defines him," Guardiola said last December, when he confirmed Silva's unofficial status as teacher's pet.

"There are players that can play everywhere, but there are few players that can play in the [Santiago] Bernabeu, Camp Nou, Milan, Liverpool... There are players born to play on the biggest stages, to play for life or death, and Bernie is one of them.

"That's why I think he's been the player who played the most minutes with me here in this decade in Manchester. It's because he's reliable, he can play in three, four, five positions. In that, Bernie is extraordinary."