How Manchester City can replace their most versatile footballer Bernardo Silva

The end of Bernardo Silva’s spell at Manchester City forces the team to face one of its most complex problems: replacing a player far more than just another squad member.

The Portuguese midfielder, who has already confirmed that he will depart at the end of the season after nine years at the club, leaves behind a tactical, emotional and competitive void that is difficult to measure with statistics.

Now, the task will be to rebuild the many small functions that one single player performed almost silently.

A footballer who was several solutions at once

Bernardo Silva has been one of the reasons behind Manchester City’s success for years, without always grabbing the headlines.

At the Etihad Stadium, he played as a winger, an interior midfielder, an attacking midfielder, a support option in the build-up, the first defender after losing possession and, in many big matches, the player who brought calm when the game demanded both legs and a cool head.

That versatility is what makes finding a replacement so difficult. City are losing a starter, but above all, they are losing a permanent tactical resource. When the team needed to close down a flank, Bernardo could do it.

If the match required more control through the middle, he could provide that too. High pressing? The Portuguese player understood perfectly when to jump and when to wait. He was not always spectacular, but he was almost always useful.

That is why looking for an exact copy would be a mistake. There are not many players capable of offering everything that defined Bernardo Silva. He was not the fastest, he was not the tallest, and he was certainly not the highest scorer, but he had an almost unique intelligence.

So, the Citizens will have to accept that replacing him will not depend on a single player. Several players will have to cover the roles the Portuguese midfielder used to perform.

Part of his minutes should fall to Phil Foden, another part to Tijjani Reijnders, another to youngsters such as Nico O’Reilly or Sverre Nypan, and perhaps another to a signing from the market.

The challenge will be how to redistribute Bernardo Silva’s responsibilities without the team losing fluidity.

His departure also comes at a moment of transition within the club. Bernardo was captain, formed part of the team that won the Champions League and six Premier League titles, and belongs to a generation that turned City into a European benchmark.

That symbolic weight also matters. Replacing his carries or his inside passes is not enough. For the club, it is necessary to replace his quiet authority.

Foden, Reijnders and City’s internal route

The first answer may be found at home. Phil Foden seems ready to take on greater creative responsibility, especially after renewing his contract until 2030. This was a logical step for the club: if Bernardo Silva is leaving, Foden must stop being an intermittent talent and become a more stable player within the structure.

Foden can play on the right, through the middle or close to Erling Haaland. He has the final pass, goals and the ability to receive between the lines. However, his challenge will be different: learning how to control matches without losing his ability to break them open.

Bernardo mastered the art of slowing the tempo, protecting the ball, drawing opponents in and choosing the least spectacular but most useful pass for the move. Foden has more spark in the final third, but he still has to grow as an organiser in the most important moments.

Tijjani Reijnders is a slightly different profile. The Dutchman arrived in 2025 from AC Milan with a contract until 2030. In his case, he brings more running power, ball carrying and late arrivals from the second line.

He is not a replacement for the pause Bernardo Silva provided either, but he can compensate for a significant part of his physical workload and his ability to occupy interior spaces. In a more vertical City side, Reijnders could be important.

Another option is Nico O’Reilly, an academy product who could gain minutes if the coaching staff decides to strengthen the team with players from the youth setup. His advantage is that he knows the model, the environment and the team’s demands. His disadvantage is obvious: replacing a veteran with a player who has very little experience.

Sverre Nypan finds himself in a similar situation. He is a bet for the future, not an immediate solution. Manchester City usually move well in that area: identifying young talent, integrating it little by little and avoiding a situation in which the market forces you to pay late and expensively. But, at the same time, asking a developing footballer to cover the departure of a club standard-bearer like Bernardo would be unfair.

At this point, it is worth understanding that Manchester City do not have to choose a single route. They can use Foden when the game calls for creativity, Reijnders when they want box-to-box energy, O’Reilly in more controlled contexts and Nypan in tighter matches with the aim of helping him gain experience at the elite level so he can become a solution for the future.

That combination could reduce the impact of the departure, as long as the team does not lose its order around Rodri… if he stays at the club too. 

The broader impact of Silva’s exit is already being felt beyond the training ground. Speculation over his next destination has prompted active betting markets: Highbet currently lists Barcelona as the frontrunner to sign the Portuguese midfielder, with Real Madrid and a handful of Saudi Pro League clubs also featuring in the outright transfer odds.

For a player of his calibre leaving on a free, the market expects a decision before the summer window closes. 

The market must look for intelligence, not just talent

Although the internal solution makes sense, Manchester City rarely have trouble competing in the market. But looking outside the squad is not about a lack of talent in the team, but rather about the fact that Bernardo covered too many functions. If the club wants to compete properly in the Premier League, Champions League, domestic cups and Club World Cup, it will need depth and compatible profiles.

The ideal signing does not have to be a star. In fact, City should prioritise tactical intelligence over glamour. They need a player capable of receiving under pressure, turning in tight spaces, pressing without the ball, interpreting when to move out wide and when to drift inside. He must also have stamina, because in City’s system, running back after losing the ball is just as important as threading a pass between centre-backs.

That profile can come from different positions. It could be a creative interior midfielder, a converted attacking midfielder, a winger with a tendency to play inside or even a well-rounded central midfielder with good feet. The key is that he understands City’s rhythm. Many brilliant players would fail if they always wanted to take two touches too many, speed up every move or live only near the box.

Age is also important. A player who is too young would need time, while an already established figure would demand minutes and could block the growth of the younger players. The logical option would be a player between 23 and 27 years old, with European experience, good physical range and the ability to adapt to several positions… in other words, a unicorn.

The market, however, will not be able to solve everything either. The change of player will force Guardiola and the rest of the coaching staff to redesign certain automatisms.

Bernardo was key when the full-back moved inside, when the winger held the width and when Rodri needed a safe passing lane to retain possession. Without the Portuguese player, City will have to decide who offers that first support, who sustains the press and who appears between the lines when the opponent blocks the central channel.

The team’s profile may also change. Without Bernardo, City could move towards a more direct style of play than Guardiola has accustomed us to. Foden and Reijnders invite more vertical attacks, with more runs into the box and less pause.

That does not have to be negative, as long as the team does not lose its ability to put games to sleep. On big European nights, controlling ten bad minutes is worth as much as scoring a goal.

That is where the problem of succession lies. Bernardo Silva leaves a gap in the squad, but above all, City lose a very different way of competing compared with what others can offer.

Manchester City can replace him with talent, the market and the academy, but they must do so without falling into the temptation of believing that everything can be solved with an expensive signing.