I’d love to be proven wrong, but I still think he’s going to struggle to get minutes in the league this season, especially if De Bruyne, Gundogan and Silva stay fit. He might not even make the bench for our first few league games.
when we play spurs next week fernandinho will be back, and foden will be out of the 18.
can see de bruyne making 30+ starts, silva 25 and gundogan 15, which would leave around 5 free for foden (even then, that's assuming bernardo is played exclusively on the right). so outside of the cups, this will be another quiet season for him.
in 20/21 however, we'll have an attacking midfield four of de bruyne, bernardo, gundogan and foden, with foden picking up an extra 10 games where bernardo is rotated on the wing with sterling. 15 starts aged 20 would be very encouraging, and if all goes according to plan he should get promoted to undisputed 3rd choice (aged 22) once gundogan is moved on in 2022, very much knocking on the door of the first team.
obviously all depends on whether he fulfils his early potential but the point is, given silva's age and bernardo's versatility, he's got a pretty clear path to borderline first team football (as in 25+ starts) by the time he's approaching his mid-20s, provided he puts in the performances to earn that status.
he's a nice level-headed kid who likes fishing, and he'll have the good sense to remain patient for another year.