A couple of ceramic horses stand on the grand old oak table Bernardo Silva settles himself at, underneath a crystal chandelier inside one of Villa Tasca’s 15 rooms.
They’re carrying huntsmen in a wing of this Sicilian mansion – available to the public for a mere €35,000 a week – where drawings of dead rabbits adorn the walls. Caught fish in nets for good measure, too. There is a theme to this space.
Silva pulls up a pew in Palermo, the night before Manchester City’s final friendly of pre-season, to bear his soul in this setting of opulence. A gala dinner between City, Palermo and commercial partners is ongoing downstairs; Silva, as captain these days, has to pop his head in to say hello.
But only once he makes it clear that City want to jump back on the horse, not hang as trophies for sport. Silva sounds like a man ready to hunt for the first time in a long time. City haven’t had to do that since 2020, when they last went into a Premier League campaign without the crown.
The scars of last season – at one point appearing only an outside bet to qualify for the Champions League – are still visible but Silva wants them to act as a reminder and motivation.
The squad were weary last term, sounding like they had grown tired of each other to an extent. In those moments, the one win in 13 matches for a team who’d won a Treble 18 months earlier, you learn who will stand on the frontline.
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‘It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about competing for the title. We didn’t even give it a try,’ Silva says. ‘I think emotional-wise we’re definitely back. In terms of being hungry again, we’re back.
‘I hate losing. You need to be straightforward with your guys. I think the experience was good because first of all we learned how to appreciate what we did in the past, which is not normal. Six titles in seven is ridiculous. It’s probably not going to happen again.
‘There is a lot of… I would say guilt. Guilt in all the players, in the manager, in everyone, on not doing better to overcome this situation. We want things to go back to normality and normality at the club is fighting for every title.’
Guardiola invited Silva to his office towards the end of the season, once skipper Kevin De Bruyne had announced his departure, to offer the Portuguese the armband from the Club World Cup onwards.
This was a real statement, City’s manager breaking his own rules over the captaincy. Players and staff have always voted for the leadership group. Not this time. Silva was handed it instead. He admits it felt a little weird, although his enduring popularity likely makes it a smart play.
Silva then lists the captains he borrows facets of leadership from: Cristiano Ronaldo, Radamel Falcao, Fernandinho, Vincent Kompany, De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan.
Downstairs, guests are venturing in off the lawns with their flutes, appetisers are coming out at dinner, held in the spot where the second series of HBO’s White Lotus was filmed. A comedy-drama centred on flawed friends letting each other down. Sounds eerily familiar.
Silva bemoans defensive injuries hampering City yet then appears to pinpoint areas for improvement. And they are areas you do not associate with a team of serial winners, who have seen ex-skipper Kyle Walker and Jack Grealish the biggest names to depart this summer.
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‘I think the biggest task, not just my task but of all the captains, is to create the right balance in the dressing room,’ Silva says. ‘I would say the right balance is good behaviour and respect in terms of arriving on time, in terms of performing well in training sessions, giving your best for the club. Don’t take any shortcuts, don’t try to cheat your job.
‘You definitely learn who you can go to war with and who you can’t in those moments. Hopefully it was a very good lesson for us.’
Time will tell on that. What becomes clear is that Silva has no interest in messing about in this new role. Just as prickly, just as honest. Perhaps even more so.
Aside from obvious genius since joining in 2017, he has owned cult hero status in the bars of Manchester for a long while – especially for his reaction to Liverpool’s title four years ago. Holding that polystyrene cup during a guard of honour at the Etihad Stadium, refusing to clap. He ended up calling rival fans ‘pathetic’ and told them to ‘read a book’ when they flooded his social media after City were dumped out of Europe by Lyon a month later.
It’s probably a good job that City faced Arne Slot’s side long before the last title was secured.
‘It’s not a tradition for me, in Portugal,’ the 31-year-old says. ‘I think that when I win a title, I don’t need anyone else to clap for me. In a way, also my opinion, it’s kind of a hypocrisy… but people, it’s fine. If they want to do it, they can do it. I wasn’t going to clap Liverpool because that’s not how I celebrate defeat.’
Silva hopes that is not something he will need to explain this year.