Bernardo Silva was Manchester City’s player of the year last season and must surely now be regarded as one of the finest players on the planet, but it wasn’t always that way. In conversation with former Benfica coach Joao Tralhao, Adam Bate examines how Bernardo had to come through his own crisis of confidence as a youngster before tasting success.

It was an unprecedented domestic treble, the greatest season in Manchester City’s history, and no player did more to make it happen than Bernardo Silva. For club and country, the Portuguese had the season of seasons. In every way that matters, he is a superstar. It makes it all the more remarkable that he did not always believe that he was destined for the top.