Manchester City are confident that Bernardo Silva will sign a contract extension to keep him at the club for the foreseeable future.
And after Pep Guardiola hailed the 27-year-old ace as “unique” following his two-goal contribution to the Blues’ 5-0 Champions League demolition of Sporting Lisbon, the need to tie him up is even greater.
Bernardo has become the living embodiment of Guardiola’s football essence - a gifted but selfless player whose technical ability and tactical nous are matched only by his incredible capacity for work and his aggression when City do not have the ball.
Guardiola described the Portugal international as a one-off after he responded to the jeers of the Sporting faithful - mindful of his Benfica past - with a virtuoso display in a symphony of a performance from the team.
Asked whether there is anyone else like him on the planet, Guardiola said: “Just Bernardo. Bernardo is unique.
“First as a person, his mum and dad have to be so proud because he's a lovely, lovely person.
“He's so generous whether he plays or doesn't play. He can play in six roles easily. He doesn't just play football, he understands the game.
“There are players that play good with the ball but he understands every action like few in the world. I hope he stays at Manchester City for many, many years but he and the club will decide.”
Like Guardiola, he is a perfectionist.
The manager’s first response to the win at the Jose Alvalade Stadium was to berate his players for sloppiness on the ball and being a little greedy at times.
Interestingly, Bernardo had said roughly the same thing to the TV cameras moments earlier.
"A very good win," he said. "I think in the first half we weren't that good to be winning 4-0, we were a bit sloppy, lost some easy balls to let them counter.
“Sometimes you play better than we did the first half and you go in 0-0. You can still improve and we can still do better."
It is no surprise that Bernardo himself seems to be on an endless quest to get better - and one area where he can improve is in goalscoring terms.
He has 45 goals in 234 games since joining City in 2017, and last night’s brace took him to double figures for this season - only the second time has reached that milestone, after he netted 13 in 2018-19. He averages about nine goals a season, although that average should move into double figures - the norm for any good attacking midfielder - this season.
Given his spatial awareness, cleverness in and around the box, and the wand of a left foot that crashed in a stunning half-volley against Sporting, that figure is surprisingly low.
Fellow midfielder Kevin De Bruyne has 52 goals in 200 games over the same period, but Ilkay Gundogan - despite being the club’s top scorer last season - has just 40 in 221.
The goal tallies for all three of City’s midfield geniuses would be higher but for their selflessness - they all enjoy assists just as much as hitting the back of the net themselves.
The breakdown of Bernardo’s Premier League goals show that out of the 28 he has scored, 23 were from that left foot, three with his right and two from headers - he is uncannily productive with his head for someone who stands 5ft 8ins, popping up at the far post regularly as he did for his disallowed “hat-trick” goal last night.
Selfless running is a key factor in Bernardo’s uniqueness - his incredible effort against Liverpool in the important 2-1 Etihad Stadium victory in 2019, when he topped the Premier League chart for distance covered in a game with an astonishing 13.7 kilometres, was indicative of what makes him special.
This was no headless chicken, chasing Liverpool shadows in a meaningless fury. He also showed the quality to be named man of the match by just about everyone who saw the game - brilliant in possession, manic without the ball.
And while you might expect a clash with main title rivals in a close race might force an extra kilometre or two out of leaden legs, Bernardo does that kind of thing regularly.
In fact, that 13.7 kms figure broke his own record for the 2018-18 season, which he had set with 13.65kms against Spurs three months earlier.
The following season, with City not faring so well in the title race, he again broke the 13kms barrier as City came from behind to beat Leicester 3-1, four days before Christmas.
Those figures have calmed down considerably following Guardiola’s change of tack last season, when he figured that the unique circumstances of a Covid lockdown season, congesting the fixture schedule and putting extra strains on squad availability and fitness, required a change of tempo.
Ball retention became City’s chief aim, and some of their more adventurous football was reined in for the sake of control.
Having more possession means having to run less, but Bernardo still puts in a stint when he needs to, when the opposition have the ball.
Guardiola’s description of Bernardo is unique is not throw-away praise. It is hard to think of another player who possesses the same quality but who also works as hard and rejects ego in favour of the team ethic.
His City and Portugal teammate Ruben Dias summed it up: “You have many players with a lot of quality at his level, but you don’t have many that are able to make the sacrifices he makes.
“That is who Bernardo Silva is. A guy who is equally talented as the others, but willing to make sacrifices that not many others are willing to.
“That is a good thing to reflect on, especially for the youngsters, because that is the kind of player and personality you should be aiming for. For the team, that is the best thing you can have.”
