🏆 Ballon d'OneFootball: And in 9th place is ... | OneFootball

Welcome to the third annual edition of the Ballon d’OneFootball as we continue our countdown of the top 25 players in the world.

Click right here to see the full list so far.

And today we have …

9th: Bernardo Silva, Manchester City and Portugal

(New entry)

Footballers face many challenges during their careers. Injuries, losses of form and confidence, pressure from fans and the media.

But homesickness is an issue which often gets overlooked when we discuss players’ mental wellbeing.

That was the challenge Bernardo Silva had to overcome during the depths of the coronavirus lockdown.

Bernardo joined Manchester City in the summer of 2017 having impressed the club’s scouts with a majestic performance against them for Monaco in the Champions League a few months previously.

After an initial bedding in period, the Portuguese playmaker found his feet in the Premier League towards the end of his first season, helping City to a record 100-point title triumph.

But it was the following year when Bernardo really began to shine, and he was named City’s Player of the Season after a stunning campaign in which they retained the title and completed an unprecedented domestic treble.

Bernardo’s brilliance was distilled into his performance in a memorable 2-1 victory over Liverpool in January 2019. Not only did he assist one of the goals, but he ran an incredible 13.7km that night and had to be peeled off the Etihad Stadium pitch at full-time.

If you want goals, assists, skills and footwork, he’s your man. If you want energy, intensity and work rate, he’s also your man.

The following season was less successful for City and midway through it, Covid struck and the world went into lockdown.

It proved to be a very tough time for the boy raised in Lisbon, who was suddenly isolated from friends and family and forced to endure the dismal British winter alone.

Despite his love for City and his return to form in 2020/21, the pandemic all got a bit too much for Bernardo and last summer he asked to leave the club, with the sunnier climes of Spain his ideal destination.

But for reasons which will never make sense, none of the big Spanish clubs attempted to sign him, and when the transfer window closed he remained in Manchester.

Did he retreat into his shell and sulk? No, he picked himself up and has had arguably his best season for City to date, with 10 goals, four assists and a string of breathtaking displays to his name.

That’s the measure of the type of player and person Bernardo is, and he would be an asset to any club in the world. City are lucky to have him, and if they can do something about the Manchester weather, he might never leave.

Click right here to see the full list so far.