The 2025/26 campaign has once again produced silverware for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City outfit. With the Carabao Cup in the bag, the Citizens are also warm favourites to lift the FA Cup and still have an outside shot at the Premier League title. And so continues a spell of success that has made the sky blues of Manchester one of the most popular sides with punters at the best betting sites UK.
There have been many contributing factors to this Premier League success story. While some players have come and gone, for the past nine years, Portuguese maestro Bernardo Silva has featured as one of the constants in City’s rise to the top.
All good things come to an end, and such is the case with Silva’s time in Manchester. On the back of another year of excellent displays – none more so than in the Carabao Cup Final – Silva will officially leave City in the summer for a destination, as yet, unknown. With his time at an end, the discussion turns to where Silva ranks among the Portuguese players who have taken their skills abroad, specifically to the Premier League.
Selecting a top five will always be vulnerable to some degree of subjectivity, but a comparison with four other Portuguese Premier League talents makes a decent case that Silva is the greatest of them all.
Bernardo Silva
Club - Manchester City (2017-2026)
Premier League Appearances - 300
Premier League Goals - 45
Honours - Premier League (2017/18, 2018/19, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24), FA Cup (2018/19, 2022/23), EFL Cup (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2021/21, 2025/26), FA Community Shield (2018, 2019, 2024), UEFA Champions League (2022/23), FIFA Club World Cup (2023), UEFA Super Cup (2023)
Ahead of the 2026 FA Cup Final and with the battle for the Premier League not yet decided, Bernardo Silva has won 19 major trophies during his time at Manchester City. No Portuguese player in history can match his tally of six Premier League titles. Mixing class, commitment, and tenacity, he deserves to be mentioned alongside City’s all-time greats.
Bruno Fernandes
Club - Manchester United (2020 – present)
Premier League Appearances - 227
Premier League Goals - 70
Honours - FA Cup (2023/24), EFL Cup (2022/23)
Bruno Fernandes doesn’t come close to matching Silva’s trophy haul. However, he arrived at Manchester United during one of the most turbulent spells in the history of the club. Through a procession of managerial changes and unrest, Fernandes has been a constant creative force. It is hard to imagine how United would have coped without him.
Nani
Club - Manchester United (2007-2015)
Premier League Appearances - 147
Premier League Goals - 25
Honours - Premier League (2007/08, 2008/09, 2010/11, 2012/13), EFL Cup (2008/09, 2009/10), FA Community Shield (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011), UEFA Champions League (2007/08), FIFA Club World Cup (2008)
The name of Nani is possibly not the first to spring to mind when thinking of Portuguese Premier League greats. However, a haul of 12 major trophies earns the flying wide man with a thunderous shot a place on the list.
Ricardo Carvalho
Club - Chelsea (2004-2010)
Premier League Appearances - 135
Premier League Goals - 7
Honours - Premier League (2004/05, 2005/06, 2009/10), FA Cup (2006/07, 2008/09, 2009/10), EFL Cup (2004/05, 2006/07), FA Community Shield (2005, 2009)
One of the greatest defenders to ever grace the Premier League, Carvalho formed a record-breaking central defensive partnership with John Terry. An elite reader of the game, who always seemed to have time, he was a key cog in the José Mourinho winning machine.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Club - Manchester United (2003-2009, 2021-2022)
Premier League Appearances - 236
Premier League Goals - 103
Honours - Premier League (2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09), FA Cup (2003/04), EFL Cup (2005/06, 2008/09), FA Community Shield (2007), UEFA Champions League (2007/08), FIFA Club World Cup (2008)
Last, but certainly not least, the greatest Portuguese player of all time. While Ronaldo’s peak years came elsewhere, he enjoyed a golden spell at United following the first big move of his career - before returning for a less successful stint in 2021.
