Pep Guardiola, in an interview with numerous media outlets, has spoken about his ongoing faith in midfielder Bernardo Silva, his issues last season and has tipped him to have a big impact this season.
“He was exhausted, his mind was exhausted”
“He was injured in some moments and he didn’t reach the levels of previous season, but it happens. I’ve an opinion that if there’s one player I have absolutely no doubts about who he is as a football player, it’s Bernardo…He played absolutely incredible all season when we won four domestic titles, incredible, then was the best player with Portugal at the UEFA Nations League finals. He didn’t have time to refresh, he was exhausted and his mind was exhausted and he struggled with this.”
Last season Bernardo started just 23 of City’s 38 Premier League games and on many occasions lacked the spark of magic that he displayed so often the season before.
The 2018/19 season was by far Bernardo Silva’s best season in a Manchester City shirt and possibly his best career season to date. The diminutive magician stepped in, in place of the injured Kevin De Bruyne and was instrumental in everything that Manchester City did.
“It is not because he didn’t want it, it was because we demand a lot of the players and sometimes it is not possible. In the NBA – the best league in basketball and we can say the Premier League is one of the best in football – they have three or four months break, they play a lot of games – 70 or 80 – but they have three or four months’ break.
“With Bernardo it was like this – he couldn’t refresh mentally and started the season tired mentally. But I have a feeling he’ll do a very good season this season because he’s coming back in many things to what we’ve seen in the past.”
