Pep Guardiola says “part of myself is leaving” with Bernardo Silva as the Manchester City manager urges his side to give the outgoing Portugal playmaker the perfect send-off.
The City captain ended speculation about his future on Thursday, revealing that he will depart the club at the end of the season when his contract expires.
That follows a trophy-laden nine years in the north-west.
Guardiola hopes Silva can still add more silverware to the 19 honours he has already won before he exits, with City aiming to bag the Premier League and FA Cup to complete a domestic treble.
And Guardiola, speaking ahead of the top-two showdown against league leaders Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, insisted Silva still has a crucial role to play for the remainder of the campaign.
Asked whether Silva going was the hardest goodbye for him, Guardiola replied: “Absolutely. When these types of players are going, and there have been many in the last years, part of myself is leaving too.
“It will be difficult imagining (the club) without him. He made an incredible statement during nine years and he has been massively, massively, massively important.
“Hopefully we can deliver to him, he’s going to help us, I know that. He’s a special player, hopefully we can deliver a good month, a few days, because he deserves it, he deserves the best.
“We’ve won 19 titles together, we are still challenging for two more and we are going for it, that’s for sure. We are looking forward to the start and do our best.”
Silva, who has scored 76 goals and made 77 assists in 451 appearances at City, joins Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gundogan, Ederson and Kevin de Bruyne as long-serving players to leave the club in the last 12 months.
The likes of Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders were signed last summer, with Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi following in January, while Nico O’Reilly and Abdukodir Khusanov are now first-team regulars.
Guardiola therefore rejected suggestions they can go into the title run-in with more conviction than Arsenal, whose lead could be cut to three points if they lose with City having a game in hand.
“Ederson, Kevin, Gundo, Kyle and Manuel (Akanji, who is on a season-long loan at Inter Milan) and a lot of players who made a lot of things here are not here any more,” Guardiola said.
“Most of them are new and we will see. Cherki, for example, has never won the Premier League so we don’t know how he is going to behave in that position.
“Khusanov has never been here, Nico is the first season where he is really there, Antoine arrived a month ago, Marc Guehi arrived a few weeks ago.
“There are a lot of players who are going to play who maybe will win their first Premier League title. I don’t know how they will behave. There are many things you cannot control.”
Guardiola, though, hopes his players embrace the occasion as they look to strengthen their chances of a fifth league title in the last six seasons.
“We need that pressure,” Guardiola added. “To compete good against that team, they have to know that if we don’t win, it’s over. They know it, we talk about that.”
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