Sport
Bernardo Silva has confirmed he is leaving Manchester City at the end of the season
He confirmed the news in a long and heartfelt post.
After a couple of years of will he, won’t he, Manchester City star Bernardo Silva has now revealed he will be leaving at the end of the season.
While most supporters saw it coming from a mile off, it’s still a huge loss for the Blues.
Announcing his imminent departure on social media this Thursday, 16 April, the Man City midfielder will call it a day at the Etihad Stadium after the best part of the decade.
More importantly, he’s lifted virtually everything there is to win at a club level after signing from Monaco at the age of 22, and has been an instrumental part of the squad ever since he arrived.
Writing a lengthy and emotional post on his Instagram, 31-year-old Silva wrote: Cityzens, When I arrived 9 years ago, I was following a dream of a little boy, wanting to succeed in life, wanting to achieve great things.
“This city and this club gave me much more than that, much more than I ever hoped for. What we won and achieved together is a legacy that will forever be cherished in my heart. ‘The Centurions’, the domestic quadruple, the Treble, the ‘Four In A Row’ and much more… It wasn’t that bad
“In a few months, it’s time to say goodbye to the city where not only [did] we win so much as a football club, but also where I started my marriage and my family. From the bottom of my heart, Ines and Carlota, thank you!
“To the fans, your unconditional support throughout the years is something that I will never forget. My main goal as a player was to always play with passion so you guys could feel proud and well represented on the pitch. I hope you felt that every single game.
“I arrived as a Man City player, I leave as one more of you, a Man City supporter for life. Keep supporting this young team, and I’m pretty sure they will bring you a lot of new, fantastic memories in the future.
After more than four and a half centuries’ worth of appearances already, and a few more to come before the end of the 2025/26 campaign, he will no doubt go down as one of the all-time greats – and not just for City, but arguably the Premier League in general.
With 76 goals and 77 assists to his name, not to mention 19 trophies while wearing the shirt,
He signed off by adding: “To the club, Pep, the staff and all my teammates these 9 years, thank you for all the memories and for letting me be a part of this journey for so long.
“The atmosphere we created every day in the training ground made me feel at home and a part of a big family. Let’s enjoy together these last weeks and fight for what this season still brings us. Love you all,
Bernardo.”
As for Guardiola and co, they have already teased plans to give the Portuguese playmaker a proper send-off and have promised to work with the fans to deliver “a fitting tribute and farewell to a wonderful servant of Manchester City Football Club at the end of the season.”
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Featured Images — Aleksandr Veprev (via Wikimedia Commons)
Sport
Manchester City release new ‘The Decade Collection’ celebrating 10 years of Pep Guardiola
Danny Jones
Manchester City and PUMA have just released a new clothing line celebrating 10 seasons of Pep Guardiola at the club.
Simply entitled ‘The Decade Collection’, the new PUMA range revolves entirely around Pep as he marks his 10th anniversary in charge of the Blues, focusing on minimalistic style.
Guardiola has always been a trendy bloke, often being highlighted for his fashion choices on the touchline – even some of the questionable ones…
But with a much plainer approach this time around, the Pep clothing collab
Debuting the lifestyle drop on Wednesday, 15 April, Man City wrote on social media, “Ten seasons on the touchline. Ten seasons of setting the standard.
“Introducing the Puma Football Decade Collection with the Pep Team – celebrating Pep’s ten seasons as our manager and inspired by memorable moments from his tenure at the Club.”
While it’s unclear how much (if any) of these new clothes the Catalan coach has helped design or had influence on, but given its exclusive nature, you can expect it to sell out pretty quickly.
They go on to add: “Created to honour a defining chapter that reshaped the club’s modern identity, this exclusive collection is available in limited quantities.
Starting at £30 for the cheapest item – a ‘P’ logo baseball cap – the most expensive part of the collection clocks in at £110: his special anniversary edition ‘Majesty Low Decade’ PUMA trainers.
You can see some more examples of what we’ve already seen him wearing, and what we’ll no doubt see him in pitchside very soon, down below.
https://x.com/ManCity/status/2044347944988516522?s=20
Obviously, City has plenty of other brand partnerships when it comes to both official sports apparel and more casual clothing, many of which we’ve already seen the 55-year-old football manager wear, but you can almost guarantee he’ll be donning them for the coming fixtures.
You can see Man City x PUMA x Pep Guardiola ‘Decade Collection’ in full HERE.
Speaking of which, up next for Pep and co is what could prove to be THE big twist in this year’s Premier League campaign, with his squad of serial winners taking on league leaders Arsenal at home.
Not only did the Gunners’ surprise loss to Bournemouth last weekend help City close the gap on the top spot, but with them refinding their form ahead of hosting the title hopefuls at the Etihad Stadium, it all looks to be shifting back in their favour at the moment.
With seven games left, and one in hand compared to Arsenal, do you see them beating Mikel Arteta’s side to another trophy?
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Featured Images — Manchester City Football Club (publicity pictures)
Sport
Sale Sharks announce signing of exciting new winger David Opoku-Fordjour
Danny Jones
Sale Sharks have revealed their latest bit of recruitment as they have announced an agreement to sign promising young winger, David Opoku-Fordjour.
The brother of existing Sharks player, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, David, is set to join Sale at the start of next Gallagher PREM season.
Sharing the news with their fans on social media, the Greater Manchester rugby union outfit is tipping the ‘exciting’ and very fast forward to achieve big things at the club.
As the older sibling of 21-year-old prop Asher (only slightly), they might be of a similar profile in some ways, but they are still two very unique talents with their own attributes.
The fellow Coventry-born prospect came through his local side’s youth academy, making over half a century of appearances for the Championship team.
He will now become the second member of the Opoku-Fordjour family, who are originally from Ghana, to play for Sale Sharks.
Already capped England star Asher is actually the youngest of the four Midlands-born brothers.
Meanwhile, David Opoku-Fordjour – still just 22 himself – will make his Premiership debut in the coming 2026/27 campaign, penning a one-year deal with an option of extending by another 12 months as part of his contract:
The youngster said in an official statement: “I know the levels at a PREM club will be much higher, but I’m really looking forward to playing and training with internationals every day.
“There are so many good wingers at the club – guys like Tom Roebuck and Arron Reed – and I just want to be a sponge and learn from them and develop as much as I can.”
“Asher and I are really close, and playing with him again will be brilliant. When I spoke to him, he just said that the environment at Sale is great and that I would really enjoy it. He said the club is full of good people, so I can’t wait to get started.”
Commenting on his arrival, Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson said, “There’s some real talent and potential in the Champ, and we think we’ve found one in David.
“He scores tries for fun, but there’s plenty more to his game, and we’re looking forward to seeing how he develops in this environment, learning and playing with the international wingers we’ve got.”
Looking forward to seeing him on the pitch, Sharks?
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Featured Images — FloRugby/Coventry RUFC (screenshots via YouTube)