Bernardo explains the challenges Mahrez faced after arriving at Man City

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Bernardo Silva has explained that Riyad Mahrez was ‘patient’ upon his arrival at Man City and that’s why he’s now enjoying a great campaign.

Mahrez arrived at City as the club’s record signing in the summer of 2018 but had a slow start to life at the Etihad as he adapted to Pep Guardiola’s demanding style of football.

However, this season the Algerian has been one of the Blues’ standout players and is already on course to smash his goal and assist tallies from the previous campaign.

Bernardo had a similar first season at the Etihad when he arrived at the club in 2017 but has now established himself as one of the best midfielders in the world.

The duo were in top ten for the Ballon d’Or this year and Bernardo revealed they got there by being patient.

“First of all, changing is always difficult. When you play at Leicester or Monaco and then move to a team like Man City it’s a huge step,” the Portuguese told Man City.

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“Then you have to adapt to the way your new manager thinks, sometimes to a new league in my case, to the way your teammates play so the confidence levels sometimes are not the same when you change because you need to earn the respect of your teammates, the fans, your manager.

“You need to be patient. I was patient, Riyad was patient. He’s an unbelievable player and he showing now, last season he showed every time he played, how good he was, he is.

“It’s a matter of time until you start developing and reaching the level that you want to reach.”

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