Forever Blue With Ian Cheeseman: Is Silva Destined To Leave?

Business as usual, that’s how I’d describe Manchester City’s performance against Bournemouth on Saturday.

Before the game all the hype was about the home debut of Erling Haaland. He’d scored two goals during his Premier League debut at West Ham and everyone was looking forward to seeing him at the Etihad Stadium, including his father Alfie, who I bumped into before the game.

I’ve chatted to Alfie before during my broadcasting career and chatted to him, privately, on social media while his son’s transfer was taking place. He didn’t want to speak, on the record on Saturday, but I could tell he was very proud to be preparing to watch his son play in the sky blue shirt he once wore. I guess he didn’t want to tempt fate.

Erling Haaland didn’t score but he showed, once again, that he’s as strong as an ox and will be a handful for Premier League defences this season. He even set up one of the goals, which proves he’s not just a finisher, but just like on the last day of the season, new club skipper Ilkay Gundogan scored a key goal but it was the brilliant Kevin De Bruyne who dazzled. Anyone who’s watch City regularly over the last few years, knows what a special player KDB is.

As I sat in the stifling heat, enjoying the colourful scene in front of me, I quickly decided that De Bruyne was in one of those moods where he was unplayable. If you needed proof that my analysis was spot on, just watch his goal again. It was poetry in motion. There were excellent performances all over the field, with the often underestimated Nathan Ake gliding all around the defensive areas, snuffing out the occasional Bournemouth attacks.

City made it look easy and you can see why Pep Guadiola told the prematch press conference that he was very happy with the depth of his squad, despite the summer sales of Messrs Jesus, Sterling and Zinchenko. As I write this, the one big uncertainty is whether the supremely talented, likable and popular Bernardo Silva will move to Barcelona before the end of the month.

Pep says he wants Silva to stay, “110%”, but he also seemed to suggest that he didn’t know, for sure, what was going to happen. The transfer window remains open until the end of the month.

Judging by the reaction of the City fans, they want him to stay. As soon as Bernardo came on as a substitute, in the second half, the crowd burst into song. ”We’re all going to Istanbul” is his song and was sung as loud as I’ve ever heard it. He heard it and acknowledged each stand in turn. On Sunday he thanked fans on social media for their support. I remember, years ago, Joe Royle deciding to stay at Oldham Athletic when courted by City, because of the emotion he felt from the Latics fans at the last game before decision time. Arguably it was something similar that persuaded Kaka to stay at Milan when he appeared to be on the verge of joining City.

I hope Bernardo stays at City, he’s an amazing player with a perfect attitude. A typical Pep player. 

Funnily enough I recently met up with Joe Royle’s son, Darren, at Boundary Park. We had a long chat and since he was with new Latics owner Frank Rothwell I persuaded them both to chat to me “on the record” too. It was fascinating to hear their motivations and plans. You can hear the interview on Tameside Radio 103.6FM this Friday evening, as I present SportsTalk from 7pm. Whether you’re a City fan, Oldham fan or just a football fan, it’s one not to be missed! It seems that my catchphrase “It’s great to be a Blue” applies to fans of City and Oldham right now!