Bernardo Silva signed for Manchester City in the summer of 2017 and he has been pivotal to City’s domestic success ever since.

However, last summer he was rumored to leave Manchester City.

The move failed and Silva is once again proving this year what a mistake it would have been for City sto offload the Portuguese midfielder.

At the time of writing Manchester City are one point clear at the top of the Premier League table and the 27 year-old Silva has been one of the best performers for Pep Guardiola so far.

The following visualisation shows where Bernardo Silva ranks for some of the key metrics when compared with central midfielders from Europe’s top five leagues.

Not a lot of players can come close to Bernardo Silva in terms of the versatility that the Portuguese offers.

The 27-year-old Silva has played as right central, as a left central midfielder and sometimes even as an attacking midfielder higher up the pitch.

Only two other City players have been on the pitch for more minutes than Bernardo Silva.

When compared the central midfielders from Europe’s top five leagues, Silva ranks in the 100th percentile for Key Passes per 90 minutes and the 91st percentile for Expected assists per 90 minutes.

He is also known for his work rate on the pitch and that is quite evident in the high amount of duels that he wins.

One aspect that he might have to improve is his progressive passing as the midfielder, since he ranks a low 22nd percentile for Progressive Passes per 90 minutes.

He also quite frequently gets into good crossing positions as indicated by his percentile rank for Deep Completions per 90 minutes.

Bernardo Silva has once again stepped up when his team needed him and City are very much on track to win another Premier League title.

The City hierarchy might have considered selling him last summer, but his performances this season mean that they must have changed their mind now and must be looking to do everything in the powers to retain the services of Bernardo Silva for the immediate future.