What did Bernardo Silva mean by the Manchester City ‘real ones’?

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Bernardo Silva’s comments after Manchester City’s FA Cup final defeat on Saturday raised a few eyebrows and gave an insight into where things have gone wrong for them this season.

It was another difficult weekend for City, beaten 1-0 by Crystal Palace at Wembley, towards the end of a desperately disappointing campaign and before what will be a decisive summer.

Bernardo has been linked with a return to his boyhood club Benfica in the coming transfer window, but he spoke post-match like somebody who intends to stay at City and help put them back on top.

Having already said things need to change at the club and then refusing to be drawn any further — leaving it for “the big bosses to decide” — he was asked whether a poor season like this can help focus minds and re-energise a team.

“Yeah, you learn a lot of new things,” he replied. “In the bad moments, you learn new things. Who you can go to war with, first of all. Because it’s in the bad moments that you see who the real ones are. And a lot of things that were good for us to not take things for granted, for our fans, for the club. And yeah, don’t lower our standards.”

Bernardo’s point may well have been that it has been confirmed to him that all of his team-mates are “real ones” who are ready to go to war, although it has generally been interpreted, given his call for change, that he feels there are some who could have done more.

Since his comments hit the internet on Sunday afternoon, fingers have been pointed left, right and centre, but it would not be fair on him or indeed to the others to speculate here about who he has in mind, if anybody.

Even leaving those comments to one side, it is fair to say there were already plenty of questions to be answered at City: a right-back is probably going to be needed after Kyle Walker joined Milan in January, for example.

And to ensure that the many players with question marks over their future are not tarred with the ‘not real ones’ brush, consider the uncertainty over the goalkeeper situation, which is a complicated web of issues.

Ederson could leave, but nobody seems to know what will happen yet. He wanted to go last summer, but City asked for £50million; a year on, the price will be more like £25m to £30m. Stefan Ortega will be waiting to see if Ederson leaves and, if he does, who comes in. At the same time, if a good club make Ortega an offer to become their first-choice in goal, then that may appeal, which could potentially leave City needing to sign two ’keepers.

The futures of De Bruyne and Ederson are uncertain (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

The rarely used Scott Carson’s future is also up in the air at age 39, while Ederson and Ortega’s situations are determined. That example helps to prove that not all uncertain situations can be linked to being in the trenches — Carson last got a game over three years ago anyway and is essentially in the squad these days for (very valuable) morale purposes.

Then consider the centre-backs; Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake have both needed surgery since the turn of the year after battling through various injuries for months, which is far from ideal but highlights their commitment.

It is similar for James McAtee, who can hardly be accused of not giving his all because he has barely been given an opportunity.

The 22-year-old had seemed destined to move this summer because he was talked up as a first-team option by manager Pep Guardiola during pre-season, but then did not start a single game during November and December, when City were struggling.

Bayer Leverkusen looked to capitalise on that in the winter transfer window and while City figures agreed that it would be a great move for him, they blocked it on the basis that they still had a lot of injuries, so he was needed. McAtee then got more game-time, but he was left out of the cup final matchday squad, with January arrival Claudio Echeverri making the bench — and then getting on — for the first time.

That feels like a shabby way to treat a player, even if part of Guardiola’s justification was that he was trying to be fair to others, such as Echeverri, who have not been included in the past few weeks.

Rico Lewis was another who didn’t make the 20-strong squad against Palace, which probably will not signal the end of his time at City, but will have been a massive blow, while Jack Grealish stood on the pitch after the game looking distraught.

With other players being omitted entirely, it felt like a case of going through the motions by naming Grealish on the bench, given he stayed there for the seventh time in the past 12 games. That is since the winger was photographed on a night out with friends in Manchester and then Newcastle at the start of March, something Guardiola said he had no problem with, but in that time, he has started twice.

Then there is Kevin De Bruyne, who wants to stay but has been told to go with his contract expiring in June. He also spoke after the final and said that he will probably not play for City in the upcoming Club World Cup, which kicks off on June 14.

Even if the quality has noticeably dipped over the past 12 months, nobody could deny he has put in the effort over the past few weeks, and certainly not at Wembley, where he was asked to drop in alongside Bernardo in a deep midfield role. If one player’s situation sums up the uncertainty around City, it is that of De Bruyne: he has been so good for so long, he will not be easy to replace, especially with Phil Foden having such a difficult season.

That said, enough is known about the club’s transfer plans to be confident there is an intention to put things right. With serious interest in top players such as Florian Wirtz, Tijjani Reijnders and Morgan Gibbs-White, and fresh links to Xavi Simons as an alternative, nobody could say the deposed Premier League champions are being complacent.

Florian Wirtz is of interest to City (Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Even if there is a long way to go for City to get back to their very best, they are much better now than they were during the winter, and much of that revival has been achieved with key players out in Ederson, Rodri, Erling Haaland and John Stones.

Ironically, it has also been achieved without most of the players who signed in January; after a brief period when Abdukodir Khusanov and Nico Gonzalez helped give the team some youthful verve, they have been left out as those who know Guardiola’s game plan better were called upon.

It is unlikely those winter signings will be kept on the sidelines next season and there is a crop of young players who could make things look very different then, as they did for a brief period in February. Khusanov, Gonzalez, Foden, Haaland, Lewis, Savinho, Vitor Reis, Nico O’Reilly, Josko Gvardiol, Oscar Bobb and Jeremy Doku are among those who are 24 or under.

Then there is Rodri to come back from his lengthy injury absence, plus Omar Marmoush, Ruben Dias and whoever arrives over the summer.

It makes for a solid core of players that nevertheless needs to be added to in the coming transfer window.

There is work to be done, even setting aside the “real ones” debate.

(Top photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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