Bernardo Silva has been messaging Jack Grealish during the World Cup to keep their bromance bubbling.
And the Portuguese midfielder and Etihad team-mate Ruben Dias have been winding Grealish up about his habit of winning free-kicks. At the England camp in Al Wakrah, Grealish has spoken about Silva’s brilliance and his admiration for his Manchester City pal and it is clear the feeling is mutual.
After Portugal’s 6-1 last-16 thumping of Switzerland, Silva said: “I love Jack as well, he’s a great guy. I keep sending messages to Jack. The other game when he was brought on, I was filming Ruben and I was asking ‘how many fouls do you think Jack Grealish is going to win in these 25 minutes?!’
“Ruben said nine and I said seven, I was closer as he didn’t win that much.”
Some critics might say it was not the first time Grealish has fallen short over the last year or so but Silva insists anyone who believes the £100million man has struggled under Pep Guardiola is wide of the mark.
Silva explained: “The first season (at City) is not very easy. It wasn’t easy for me when I arrived. I didn’t play much.
“People that play in other clubs think ‘if one day I play for Man City I will score 20 goals and 20 assists’ but it doesn’t work like that. Jack, in the way he works for the team, in the way he attracts players to him and then creates spaces for other players, he has been helping us a lot.
“He’s improving and I think he is going to be great for Man City the next few years.”
If England do manage to get past France on Saturday night and Portugal do the same against Morocco earlier in the day, Silva will come up against a handful of his pals from Manchester. Kyle Walker, John Stones and Phil Foden would almost certainly be starters with Kalvin Phillips and Grealish on the bench.
And Silva admits it would, from a friendship point of view, hard to do battle with his close mates. He said: “I am very happy for Jack and for Phil Foden and for all the Man City players, they have been doing quite well for England.
“I wish the Man City lads all the best but I honestly don’t want to play against them.”
