Bernardo Silva hints at desire to seek Manchester City exit for the THIRD SEASON in a row

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva has hinted that he could be set to seek an exit from the Etihad Stadium for the third season running, with a desire to return to Benfica in the coming years still at the forefront of his thinking.

Last summer, the Portugal international was at the centre of a long, drawn out saga involving La Liga giants FC Barcelona, with manager Xavi viewing Bernardo Silva as one of his priority transfer targets at Camp Nou.

However, given the player’s strong contractual position at the Etihad Stadium and the amicable relationship between the midfielder and the club, Manchester City stood strong on their valuation of the player – which is understood to be in the region of £100 million.

Unsurprisingly for a club in the financial position that Barcelona find themselves in, the aforementioned price tag was not even considered, and ultimately Bernardo Silva found himself committed to Manchester for another season.

This week, the 28 year-old has been speaking to Portuguese newspaper Record, where he talks very openly about what the future could hold for him at Manchester City, as well as his lifelong desire to return to the club where it all started as a teenager; Benfica.

On the subject of his future, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, Bernardo Silva explains, “I’m very focused on this season and it doesn’t make sense to talk about leaving because we’re in the middle of the season.

“I’ve been at Manchester City for almost six years, I have a lot of respect for the club, news keeps coming out and people know that there have been talks between me and the club and, at the end of the season, we’ll talk again to see what’s best for the two sides.”

He continued, “I’m focused on winning more titles for City. We want to win the league again, we have a competition that we have never won and that is a great objective, which is the Champions League, so we want to try again.”

The former Benfica and AS Monaco playmaker was then quizzed on the possible timing of a return to the Portuguese club, as the Manchester City man admits that his age upon any return has always played a significant role in his thinking.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be fine,” Bernardo Silva admitted, when discussing his physical capabilities as he gets older. “I’m 28 years old, I’ll be 29 in the summer, and I have two more years on my Manchester City contract. My contract would end at 31.”

He continued, “I won’t hide that my goal in recent years, if something good happens elsewhere, will probably be to move to a new project. Going into a new project at the age of 29, I’ll only finish this contract probably at 34. If you ask me: what did you think 10 years ago? My goal was to return to Benfica at the age of 32 at the most. What do I think today? It depends on what happens next summer.”

“When I was about to leave Manchester City two years ago, that would go right, (returning to Benfica) at 32. Now it won’t go right.

“If I leave, and I don’t know if that will happen, a club that pays what City want for me won’t give me a three-year contract, they will give me a five-year contract. And it’s already 34 years old.

“Being very realistic: for Bernardo to leave Manchester City for Benfica, or to leave another great European for Benfica, I cannot leave with two or three years on his contract, because Benfica do not have the money to pay these clubs; I have to go free. I’m in a difficult situation that I have to manage, but we’ll see what happens.”

Bernardo Silva and Manchester City are currently in the midst of a Premier League title race, as they look to cut down the deficit between themselves and top-flight leaders Arsenal in the second-half of the campaign.

The Portugal international – who recently returned from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar – featured in City’s most recent Premier League outing, as they were held to a disappointing 1-1 home draw against Everton, leaving them seven points behind Mikel Arteta’s squad at the top of the table.

Bernardo Silva and his Manchester City teammates face a crucial January fixture list, in which they will face the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United, and Tottenham in the Premier League before the end of the month.