Bernardo Silva will captainManchester Cityat the Club World Cup, with the Portuguese player saying he could leave the club when his contract expires next June.
The 30-year-old signed in the summer of 2017 and is one of Pep Guardiola’s most trusted players, a status reflected in the manager nominating him to lead the campaign to claim the inaugural 32-team competition in the US.
While City’s bid begins against Wydad at Lincoln Financial Field on Wednesday at midday local time, the playmaker was asked about his future. Silva, 30, has one year left on his terms.
“I know what I’m going to do but it’s not the time to talk about that,” Silva said. “I’m very focused on my season. I’m very focused on performing well for Man City. When the time is due I will talk about it. I have one year on my contract so obviously I can leave next season. This season will for sure be with Man City. I’m going to stay. I’ve had options in the past and this year, like last year and this year, my option is to stay at Man City.”
Silva was asked what condition he is in due to the gruelling schedule. “We know what the schedule is like,” he said. “It is what it is, we’re very used to that. It’s been a few years that it’s like this. So, it’s a beautiful competition. Obviously, the amount of games – we’ve already talked about this but now that we’re here and it’s such an important competition with teams from all around the world, we’re going to respect a lot the competition and we’re going to give our best to go the furthest possible – which is win the competition.
“The guys that went to Portugal – between the end of the Premier League and the beginning of our training with Portugal, we had five days which was OK. And now we have one-and-a-half which is also nice to see the family. Maybe we’re going to have some time after this.”