Manchester City are reportedly confident that Bernardo Silva will put pen to paper on a new deal after his influential season under Pep Guardiola – having come close to leaving the club last summer.

Silva looked surplus to requirements before the start of the new season, but has improved massively this term and has become one of Pep Guardiola’s most important players – scoring seven times so far to help them surge up the Premier League table.

And now the Times believe City are happy about ‘positive’ contract talks with Silva and feel he will agree new terms soon.

It represents a massive change in happiness for Silva – who was understood to be struggling with life in Manchester during lockdown and was keen for City to accept any offers that came in for him.

His agent Jorge Mendes had been looking at a number of options for his client – including a possible switch to AC Milan, the report adds, but his improved understanding with Guardiola and regular minutes this season has changed things.

And Silva’s happiness with the style of play under his Spanish boss is also thought to be a huge factor in his decision – with many City players feeling that the team play the best possession football in the world.

Real Madrid and Barcelona were once the benchmark in terms of possession play, but with both teams losing a handful of top players and losing a degree of quality in recent years, it is City who have made the most progress in technical play under former Barca boss Guardiola – a student of the tika taka game.