Pep Guardiola has admitted that “part of myself is leaving” with Bernardo Silva, as the Manchester City manager urged his side to give the departing playmaker the perfect send-off. The City captain confirmed on Thursday that he will leave the club at the end of the season when his contract expires.
Guardiola hopes Silva can add to the 19 honours he has already won before he exits, with City aiming to secure the Premier League and FA Cup to complete a domestic treble. Speaking ahead of Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash against Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium, Guardiola insisted Silva remains crucial for the remainder of the campaign.
“Absolutely. When these types of players are going, and there have been many in the last years, part of myself is leaving too,” Guardiola said when asked if Silva’s departure was the hardest goodbye. “It will be difficult imagining the club without him. He made an incredible statement during nine years and he has been massively important.”
Silva joins Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gundogan, Ederson and Kevin De Bruyne as long-serving players to have left City in the last 12 months. New signings such as Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders, Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi have arrived, while Nico O’Reilly and Abdukodir Khusanov are now first-team regulars.
Guardiola dismissed suggestions City could approach the title run-in with more conviction than Arsenal, citing the inexperience of many new players. “Most of them are new… they have never won the Premier League, so we don’t know how they will behave,” he said. However, he called on his players to embrace the pressure: “We need that pressure. To compete well against that team, they have to know that if we don’t win, it’s over.”
