Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva will end his nine-year association with the club when his contract expires at the close of the current season, with assistant manager Pep Lijnders confirming the departure following Saturday’s 4-0 United Soccer Association (FA) Cup quarter-final victory over Liverpool.
The 31-year-old Portugal international, who has won six Premier League titles and the Champions League during his time at the Etihad Stadium, will depart as a free agent when his contract concludes after the campaign ends.
Lijnders, standing in for Pep Guardiola who was serving a touchline suspension, was candid about the scale of the loss. “Every good story comes to an end,” he said. “You never replace a player with the same kind of player, because they don’t exist. Bernardo Silva is unique.”
The assistant manager elaborated on Silva’s rare qualities, describing the manner in which he controls games, moves, receives the ball, leads, and identifies solutions as attributes that set him apart within elite football.
Silva joined City from AS Monaco in 2017 for a reported fee of approximately $57.35 million and has made 450 appearances for the club across all competitions.
His contributions across those nine years helped the club secure 19 major trophies in total, including six Premier League titles, three FA Cups, five EFL Cups, the club’s first-ever Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League crown, and a FIFA Club World Cup title.
With the League Cup already secured last month, City remain in contention for a domestic treble heading into the final weeks of the campaign, though they trail Premier League leaders Arsenal by nine points with a game in hand and eight matches remaining.
Several European clubs are monitoring Silva’s availability, among them Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, and Napoli, while clubs from the Saudi Pro League and Major League Soccer (MLS) have also shown interest, with his agent Jorge Mendes exploring the best options.
Silva will be the second major figure to exit a top Premier League club this season, following Liverpool legend Mohamed Salah, who confirmed last month that he will leave the defending champions in May.
