Bernardo Silva, the versatile player Mourinho was looking for

'Bernardo Silva is already training at Valdebebas under Mourinho’s orders. Although the Portuguese player was on the market after his contract with City ended and his desire to play in Spain was well known, the Real Madrid option did not appear to be on the horizon. It was precisely Mou’s arrival that changed everything, to the point of turning down Atlético due to the Portuguese coach’s insistence that he join him in his second spell in white. Barça was also left disappointed.

For Mourinho, Bernardo Silva can be Modric version 2.0, despite them not being two players of the same mold. It was Mou who once asked Real Madrid to sign the Croatian, whom the club took from Tottenham not without difficulties, just as it has now done with his compatriot. However, the Portuguese player has evolved over the years with Guardiola, where he became, in addition to captain, Pep’s utility man for everything.'

The Portuguese can play on the right, where he started out as a winger in his early days, then gradually changed over the years because he is no longer as quick, but he guarantees quality in possession. He can also play as a right-sided midfielder, operate as a No. 10, and help with building from the back and play in midfield, as he did at City to lend Rodri a hand, with whom he will meet again at Madrid unless there is a surprise. In a squad with so much competition, the former City man will be ready to help out wherever he is most needed. Like everyone else, he will have to earn a starting spot, but his versatility and Mou's trust are signs that he could have a key role in the coach's project.

Mou's Madrid will be a team true to its coach's style, quick in transition to exploit the pace of its attackers, such as Mbappé, Diomande, Valverde or Vini if his future is clarified and he stays at Madrid. But the Portuguese knows that in modern football you have to play however is necessary, have control and bring maturity to a young team in every line, defend with the ball, and set whatever tempo is needed at any given moment. And that is also where Bernardo Silva's role comes in.

A figure that brings together

Mou insisted on Bernardo Silva because he knew he was a player who could deliver immediate results. But he also serves as a unifying element in a group that, since the departures of Modric, Kroos, now Nacho or Benzema, and now Carvajal, has lacked leaders on and off the pitch. Valverde is now the first captain and Mou will also ask him to step up in this regard, Vinicius the second, and now Courtois comes in, who can also be key in this role.

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