Joe Cole has encouraged Arsenal to pursue a possible move for Bernardo Silva following the midfielder’s departure from Manchester City this summer.
Silva announced in April that the season just gone would be his last with City, with the Portugal international deciding to bring down the curtain on a glittering nine-year spell at the Etihad.
Having joined from Monaco back in 2017, Silva racked up a total of 76 goals and 77 assists in 460 appearances for City, proving an invaluable member of the dressing room while helping the club win 18 pieces of silverware.
The 31-year-old will no doubt have been desperate to add a seventh Premier League trophy to that collection this term, but it wasn’t to be as City came up short in what was also Pep Guardiola’s final campaign in the north west.
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While Silva was arguably playing some of his best football in a City shirt in the back-end of the season, including an extraordinary man-of-the-match display against Arsenal, his mind was made up, with his contract due to expire at the end of the month.
According to ESPN, Silva’s impending departure is ‘causing a stir in the European transfer market’ and Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Arsenal have all emerged as potential destinations for the soon-to-be free agent.
With the Gunners said to be interested in a move, ex-Chelsea and England winger Cole sees no reason why Mikel Arteta – who previously coached Silva at City – shouldn’t at least explore a potential offer.
‘Would you make a cheeky bid for Bernardo Silva if he’s not sorted somewhere? Come and live in London!’ Cole proposed on The Dressing Room Podcast.
When it was put to Cole that Arsenal may require a younger midfielder with a superior work-rate, he replied: ‘Mate, he puts a shift in.
‘He covers some ground.’
Turning his attentions to last weekend’s Champions League final, Cole was quick to defend Arsenal, insisting Arteta’s men ‘did a great job’ with their approach against ‘the best team in the world’ PSG.
‘That’s the criticism, everyone is saying Arsenal backed off, but I personally think PSG are just the best team in the world,’ Cole said.
‘Arsenal, Leandro Trossard and Bukayo Saka, were doing a great job at doubling up, coming back, and they just got pinned back.
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‘When you play defence against attack, English players, we want to go forward and we want to probe and everyone was saying they were moving it slow. That wasn’t slow.
‘It’s slow when you’re watching it on the television but when you’re there watching it live, we had great seats, and you’re watching Arsenal shift as a unit. They did a great job defensively.’
Cole felt Cristhian Mosquera’s foul on Khvicha Kvaratskheli – which led to Ousmane Dembele’s equaliser from the spot – came as a direct result of PSG wearing down Arsenal by ‘patiently’ dragging Arteta’s side from side to side.
The clever thing PSG were doing was Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz, who are top players by the way, they were running the Arsenal midfield away and then Vitinha was dropping off… Vitinha had all the time in the world but he wasn’t rushing it,’ he added.
‘They were going side to side and when you play like that in a block, your legs are burning and eventually Cristhian Mosquera made a mistake because his legs [were burning], the lactic acid was building up, and he was in the wrong position.
‘The patience they showed… I thought PSG’s patience was fantastic.’
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