5 destinations for Bernardo Silva
Bernardo Silva, one of the stars of AS Monaco is a Benfiquista through and through. The Portuguese club plucked him up at the tender age of eight and from there, he rose through the club’s ranks quickly.
The 22-year-old winger progressed from the under 19 squad to the Benfica B team and then to the main side, where he was sent on loan to Monaco, scoring nine goals and impressing the club enough to warrant a permanent deal in France.
Since then, he has played fixtures in the Champions League, continuing his form, scoring seven goals and an assist to help Monaco finish third in the league, in a Champions League spot. This season, however, has seen the young winger burst onto the football scene, with his presence and ability in the final third turning him into one of football's most coveted prospect - often drawing comparisons to Lionel Messi thanks to his incredible ball control and agility on the ball.
#5 Chelsea
When Monaco announced that they were ready to listen to offers for their young Portuguese, Chelsea was one of the first sides to announce their interest in the winger. However with Monaco settling for nothing less than at least £50 million, the 22-year-old will be an expensive buy, to say the least.
However, that hasn’t changed things for Chelsea with reports that the Blues have stepped up their interest in the winger, with the two clubs said to have begun talks over a potential £70 million transfer.
The Portugal international will be a brilliant asset to any club he joins not just for his quality going forward, but what will also appeal to manager Antonio Conte is the Monaco man's intensity off the ball, especially defensively. The winger has won possession back in the attacking third more times than any other player in Ligue 1 this season.
However, at Chelsea, the Italian manager has a lot of quality to choose from with Pedro, Willian and even Eden Hazard battling for a first team place at Stamford Bridge. But with Hazard, heavily linked with Real Madrid, the Portuguese youngster would be the perfect replacement for the Belgian star.