Bernardo Silva has taken up the Manchester City captaincy for the season and spoke about what he wants to deliver.
Bernardo Silva during Manchester City's win over Juventus
Bernardo Silva during Manchester City's win over Juventus
(Image: 2025 Getty Images)
Bernardo Silva wants to set Manchester City up for the next generation of success after committing his future to the club. The Portugal international, who joined in 2017, has regularly had interest from other clubs but a move never materialised and this summer he has been made captain by Pep Guardiola.
City’s manager broke with the habit of his career by getting personally involved in picking the skipper after being unhappy with how things unravelled at the Etihad last year. Kyle Walker began the year as captain for a second year, but left the club on loan halfway through the campaign amid awful form for him and the team.
Silva was one of the players whose future looked in doubt, with just one year remaining on his contract and more reports linking him to boyhood club Benfica. However, the 30-year-old is adamant he has more to offer and wants his role - and that of his fellow captains - to be pulling up the newer players in the team.
"It's part of life. We've had a team that passed when I'm going to talk about players that were so important for this club and left. Like Vincent, like David Silva, Fernandinho, Kun Agüero, Yaya Touré," he told reporters after City thumped Juventus 5-2 at the Club World Cup.
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“The club always finds new solutions, a new generation of players that has to keep putting this club in the right path up at the top. And yeah, it's nice that we have new blood in the team. These guys have a lot of energy, have a lot of quality.
“Being made captain is probably one of the biggest honours of my career. We went through a lot of fantastic moments and some disappointments as well. All that experience, I will try to pass it to the younger guys. But the leadership in a team, it's not about one guy.
“I'm counting on Ruben Dias, on Rodri, on Erling Haaland, on all the guys to help me. Because I will need that help to help the team achieve a lot of things and hopefully win titles.
“It’s up to us, the older ones to give them the right path to achieve the good things. And then for them to take our place and perform at the club.
“And hopefully in a few years, it's their turn to show the young guys what to do. But it's definitely really nice to have them with us. They're great guys and they're working a lot, which is very important.”
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