Bernardo Silva

Status
Not open for further replies.
I absolutely love Bernardo, hope he stays, and would never slag off what he provided us in this past season and in general.

However, from that Twitter incident onwards I think how he may believe he is viewed by others changed and wonder if he sees Barca as a way to get back to being that player, and loved in the way he was prior then rather than what he is for us now over the past year and a half or so after he got back into the side consistently and reliably.

I think he’s fantastic in general, which is linked to Pep’s focus on high character “nice guys” that Bernardo embodies almost always on and off the pitch.

A “foreigner” who came and shone after a tough 1st season playing for a club accused of being too “foreign” in a nation that votes Brexit in and where such sentiments are hard to not see connected to some of the hatred towards City and the lack of love at times for our players despite their quality as players or people.

Bernardo we know seemed very willing to dive into and relate to English culture and players than I suspect some may assume from flair oriented players from Portugese or Spanish speaking nations, where we can never forget the videos after winning the league during the Centurions season (?) singing, drinking pints in a pub with Walker and Stones.

The same Bernardo who did what every City fan tells themselves they would when he decided to treat the guard of honour for Liverpool as he did, entering him forever into our club folklore and cementing the love fans aready had for him.

However, his popularity I feel dipped for a few reasons and I have some reason to wonder if this could be when his idea of leaving City and off to Barca may have really began.

After that Twitter incident between he and Mendy that he was widely criticised for I can see how Bernardo might have felt slighted. This is relevant to the reason Bernardo may feel interested in leaving City since at least last summer, via feeling less valued/respected in England than his peers after he was so adored.

We heard he was quite upset about the Twitter ban and criticism. One can see how then he may have felt rejected by fans and the PL so readily over what he may have felt was an unintended mistake. Consider that this reaction to him came after he embraced English culture, including banter, but now it’s used against his reputation.

We then saw what comparatively speaking felt like a near falling off of the cliff from that November on during 19-20 season. The bulk of his minutes came as a forward/winger but the level was ghost like it felt for a sustained period of time in the side in terms of performances and we all gave him time to recover, but it lasted into the next season.

I will admit after last season I had actually accepted Bernardo’s desire to leave wondering if he’d be the same here. He took more shots than ever with CIty in 20-21 but converted them at his worst rate since joining during that long period.

Pep had showed faith for a while, but we all know that chance conversion has been a problem for us for years. We signed Mahrez for this specifically after Bernardo did not have the best 1st season as we know, playing almost all games as winger.

The wing is also where Foden arguably plays best and his rise also came with Pep finding time for Raz who was picked then when he was scoring more. All this meant less room for Bernardo on the wing as we have needed more goals for all of our chance creation.

Back when Bernardo was performing poorly, I wrote that this situation and the Twitter fallout could perhaps be due to Bernardo priding himself on being a nice guy.” When COVID hit, I don’t recall him finding much form for a while. I was wondering if the Bernardo we knew was gone. He was increasingly getting games as a CM where many of us thought he would first play as Merlin’s replacement, but it felt different.

Benardo felt more like a supprting pre-assist, hard worning box to box, press master, tempo dictating “wingman” for KDB’s more glamorous role garnering media attention for the goals, free kicks, and all his “what a pass” moments which = more star power. I was fine with it, but stars at this level have egos and are human, even if they are nice.

Foden being English, and local added to public attention, with Bernardo much less so with the spectacular parts appear less. He was now competing for time on the wing with Jesus. Yes, Bernardo just had an AMAZING season but hold on one moment.

What Bernardo’s offering City now is in part because his performances dropped years ago, and Pep found a role for him that works.

However, it’s not the same role with as much freedom allowed as he earlier. It’s more for retention and control. He took Gundo’s minutes this season, who is the other underrated player City fans used to slag off and I’ve argued in support of with some because he does the little things that go unnoticed that keep control Pep wants, remember?

Yet, this past season we saw Bernardo offer a mazy dribble, but it was overshadowed by Salah’s mazy dribble and goal in the same game. He scored a worldy this season from that insane team goal, but I don’t think it even made the top goals of the year.

Bernardo is respected, but he’s not THE star, or even one of the top 3. We now also have Grealish who was also brought in with his departure in mind.

it reminds me somewhat why Neymar wanted to go, but he’s no Neymar, I am sure. It could still be a mistake as well, but I doubt it with Bernardo and sometimes you just have to get a fresh start. I can’t blame him, and he won’t lose my love or respect.

Bernardo is a team player and can do a job, but maybe he doesn’t want the job Pep is offering or City or England can offer anymore.

Maybe he wants another chance to show what he believes he can do well enough in with himself to be a true star with more attention, but that may need to be away from City.

Barca will allow that for him far more so than City, as they have an insane following and media attention more focused on them just by default. This makes even more sense to support my thoughts, but again I hope I am wrong.

Cheers for reading this far if you have.
You are Marcus Rashford and I claim my £5
 
Sorry I don't agree hes not in the top 3 of our "Stars" - Haaland will probably get in there but you're discussing the past.

My list goes
1.KDB
2.Bernie
3.Foden
no not all the list goes more like this in terms of importance, who cares about stars? these are the order of importance in our team

1.Ederson
2.Rodri
3.Walker
4.KDB
5.Haaland
6.Foden
7.Bernardo
 
Barcelona have sold there soul so they have 200+m to burn we know the links will start up again with there being still 2 months left of the window!!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.