Silva going back where he belongs by joining Real Madrid, claims Gvardiol

Josko Gvardiol was sad to see Bernardo Silva leave Manchester City but claims the playmaker is "going back where he belongs" after joining Real Madrid.

Silva spent nine years at Man City before leaving at the end of his contract in June and signing a two-year deal with Madrid.

He made 460 appearances for City in all competitions, netting 76 goals in total, and won 19 trophies overall, including six Premier League titles and the club's first-ever Champions League triumph.

Silva reportedly held talks with Barcelona and Atletico Madrid before agreeing to join Los Blancos.

Though he has never played in Spain before, Gvardiol revealed Silva has been talking about heading to LaLiga for a long time.

"Bernardo and I are great friends. How much have we [City] lost? We'll know when we get together at the start of the season, but we're going to miss him," Gvardiol told The Athletic.

"Bernardo is going back to where he belongs; he'd been talking about Spain for a long, long time!"

Another stalwart to depart City on a free transfer at the end of the 2025-26 campaign was John Stones, who has since joined Serie A champions Inter.

The 32-year-old had been linked with moves to Arsenal and Chelsea before settling on a switch to the Italian giants.

"When I was younger, I wouldn't say John was my idol because I was already a defender, but he was one of the best defenders. It's a secret, but every season I asked him to sign a shirt for me," Gvardiol said.

"[We were] very close. We discussed football, but not every time, because it's impossible to talk about football every day — sometimes we need to switch off.

"Every time we would have some team dinners, parties, whatever, he was one of the funniest guys, him and Matheus Nunes. He's funny. Now we need to see, because John is gone, so he's going to miss his soulmate.

"It's a perfect club for John. He's going to love being in Italy."