Man City Midfielder Bernardo Silva

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva was born in Lisbon and he joined Benfica’s academy at the age of 8.

Having made his way up the youth ranks, the Portuguese made his senior debut for Benfica B in a second-division match against Trofense in August 2013.

Silva didn’t have to wait long before playing for the first team, going on to get his first appearance a couple of months later in a Portuguese Cup tie against CD Cinfaes.


Move to Monaco

Despite being part of Benfica’s squad that won the domestic treble in 2014 (the Portuguese League title, the Portuguese Cup and Portuguese League Cup), he had only made three brief appearances off the bench, and he was loaned out to Ligue One side Monaco for the following season.

Within six months, he had sealed a permanent move to the south of France, going on to spend three and a half more years with the club, culminating in their league title triumph at the end of the 2016/2017 campaign.


City career

Silva had initially impressed City in the Champions League when his Monaco side beat them over two legs in the last 16. They bought him a few months later for a fee that could rise to €70m.

The midfielder officially joined Pep Guardiola’s team on July 1st 2017 and his arrival helped trigger an unprecedented period of success for the Manchester club.

Silva won the Premier League and the Carabao Cup in his first 12 months with the Cityzens and he has continued to collect major honours on a regular basis in subsequent seasons. He has contributed massively to the team over the past seven years, scoring 69 goals and providing 70 assists in 384 appearances (as of January 24th 2025).

Silva’s individual achievements

  • He has won 17 major honours with City, including six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, three Community Shields, the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.
  • Silva has been named in the PFA Team of the Year on two separate occasions (2018/19 and 2021/22)
  • He won Manchester City’s Player of the Year in his second season with the club (2018/19)
  • Silva was named in UEFA’s Champions League Team of the Season following their win over Inter Milan in the final back in 2023.
  • He was also selected in FIFA FIFPro’s World XI in 2023
  • At international level, Silva won the UEFA Nations League with Portugal in 2019

Find out who is in Manchester City’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here

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David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.