Bernardo Silva has made Riyad Mahrez and Leroy Sane irrelevant

Bernardo Silva has made Riyad Mahrez and Leroy Sane irrelevant for Manchester City.

Manchester City didn’t waste money when they paid a club-record £60 million to sign Riyad Mahrez last summer. Nor did the Citizens flush their cash when they shelled out an initial £37 million to acquire Leroy Sane in 2016.

Both are good players, but the Premier League champions simply got more bang for their buck when they brought Bernardo Silva on board ahead of the 2017-18 season.

At the time, the £43-million deal to snare Silva from Monaco looked like an unnecessary expense. After all, City’s squad was already fit for burst with creative playmakers such as David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gunodgan. Meanwhile, Sane and Raheem Sterling took care of things on the flanks.

Adding Silva to this loaded group looked like the kind of luxury purchase City’s mega-rich owner Sheikh Mansour makes just because he can.

Flash forward almost two years later, however, and signing Silva now looks like a masterstroke. The 24-year-old Portugal international is not only supplanting De Bruyne and Co. as City’s creative hub. He’s also making Mahrez and Sane irrelevant.

They will play cameo roles for a team still chasing an unprecedented quadruple of trophies this season. But it will be Silva who emerges as the true star turn for manager Pep Guardiola.

The latter is already acutely aware of Silva’s value. He praised his most precocious pupil after Silva had inspired a 2-0 win away to Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday, per Sky Sports:

"What Bernardo has done this season is a consequence of the way he accepts his role. He works so hard and the rewards are there. Right now with the way he plays I cannot do anything else but put him on the pitch and let him play.He’s so important for us. What he’s done for us is the best."

Those last two lines are significant. Guardiola has to play Silva.

Think about that for a moment. Silva has become undroppable in a squad with an embarrassment of riches in attacking-midfield areas. It’s quite an endorsement of the player’s talents, especially since he has no obvious position.

He can line up on the flanks but is not a true wide man, more an inverted winger who loves to drift centrally. Similarly, if Silva operates in the middle he has the ability to dribble past markers neither Silva nor De Bruyne can match.

Guardiola unleashed his most important player as a nominal right-sided forward at Craven Cottage. Silva’s willingness to ghost in and out of the inside channel and central pockets left Fulham defenders baffled.

He stayed high and wide early to stretch the Cottagers back three beyond breaking point. Silva showed a keen awareness of space as he positioned himself in the grey area between center-back Calum Chambers and wing-back Joe Bryan.

A perfectly timed late run beyond the latter allowed Silva to tee up Sergio Aguero for a shot inside the first minute.

Silva was more infield the next time he received the ball. His position had completely lost the attentions of Bryan, allowing Silva to cut across the edge of the box and sweep in an unstoppable shot with his wand of a left foot.

A left-footer cutting in from the right to score. It’s supposed to be the purview of Mahrez, but Silva is doing it better than the former Leicester attacking talisman.

Silva’s perceptive range of movement continued to wreck the Fulham defensive shape. His runs between Chambers and Bryan were forcing midfielder Tom Cairney to track back.

Cairney couldn’t stop Silva when the latter’s relentless pressing forced Bryan into a costly turnover in a dangerous area. Silva responded instantly to play in Aguero to score.

Darting off the wing to harass defenders and create goals. Usually it’s Sane’s remit, but Silva is doing it better.

He also showed a masterful understanding of how to vary his positions. When he drifted inwards, he left space for De Bruyne or right-back Kyle Walker to overlap on the outside of him.

When Silva stayed wide, he created a gap for a central midfielder to run into. He was on the touchline when he received Walker’s pass and tricked his way into position to roll a pass into Gundogan, who was breaking through the middle.

The shot went a whisker wide, but Silva’s smart use of the ball capped an imperious opening 45 minutes:

https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/1111982769482186753

Silva continued to conduct play after the break, easily outshining the more established names in City’s ranks. His final numbers were even more eye-catching:

Those figures reveal the many ways Silva is showcasing his burgeoning influence. He’s Guardiola’s chief presser in a team tasked with defending relentlessly from the front.

Silva is also the most productive of the artisans dedicated to manufacturing and converting City’s chances.

Sane and Mahrez will play again this season, but they have now become the luxury items, while Guardiola knows his strongest starting XI must include Silva.