Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva will leave the club at the end of the season.
The Portugal international, 31, has won six Premier League titles and one Champions League during his nine seasons with City, but will depart when his contract expires at the end of the current campaign.
Speaking in the press conference after on Saturday, assistant manager Pep Lijnders confirmed that "every good story comes to an end" and acknowledged that it will not be possible for the club to replace their skipper.
"You never replace a player with the same kind of player, because they don't exist. Bernardo Silva is unique," said Lijnders, who was filling in for Pep Guardiola due to the manager serving a touchline suspension.
The Dutchman added: "The way he controls games, the way he moves, the way he receives, the way he leads, the way he sees the solutions, all these things.
"You never search for a replacement of one type of player, you search for what is needed to grow with the team and somebody who can fit in the first XI.
"And then you hope with our academy, with the young players we already bought, that they can make that step as well in the midfield positions. But if you see our young boys in the academy, they have to make that step and to grow.
"But the most important is that the seniors will stay for a long time, that they stay, that the core is there and around that you can move.
"But it will be hard, because as I said, in the game, when he's not playing, you will see how he's missed. And that's one game. Imagine a season?
"But every good story comes to an end.
"I hope he enjoys the last months, it is only six weeks, and he has a good farewell and he deserves all that attention as well."
Barcelona and Juventus remain among the clubs who want to sign Silva on a free transfer this summer.
Both clubs have been long-term admirers of the Portugal star but they are not the only clubs interested and Silva is not thought to have made a final decision yet on his next club.
The 31-year-old has long been linked with moves to Saudi Arabia or MLS in the United States too.
It is fitting that news of Silva's impending exit breaks now. After lifting the Carabao Cup at Wembley, he returned home to play a key role in helping to dismantle Liverpool. It brought to mind Guardiola's words after a 3-0 win over the same side in November.
"He is a master," said Guardiola after that particular display. "The tempo, winning the ball, accelerate, decelerate, the intuition [to know] where the space is, how to manage the situations and so many things. He is one of the most clever players I have ever met."
That is how City supporters will remember the diminutive midfielder. They will recall the moments of quality that, when combined with his endless work rate, made him formidable. Whether deep in midfield or on the wing, he had the answers for his side.
Guardiola has long adored him. After that first trophyless season in charge, it was the signing of Ederson in goal and the introduction of Kyle Walker's pace at the back that are often cited as turning points in the summer of 2017. But the arrival of Bernardo was big.
His attitude became a symbol of what Guardiola wanted City to be. Technically proficient, of course, but hungry beyond belief too. A worker who put the team before himself. Even when things were not going well. Guardiola will never forget that part.
Speaking earlier this season, he made that point loud and clear to reporters. "Bernardo struggled last season. But he was there. Every. Single. Game. Exhausted. After 50 or 60 minutes [of matches last season], he could not run one more minute," he explained.
"At certain moments, he said, 'Pep, I'm drained. My mind is not [there] any more, the feet.' But he was there. And I said many times to my players, and to him, that will not be forgotten. That is why he is my captain. Because in the bad moments, he was there."
There have been many more good moments than bad because Silva influences games with his attitude as well as his ability. When he was at Monaco, he helped them beat Paris Saint-Germain to the title. He even won a league captaining Benfica's B team.
Interestingly, his mentality was not always what it is now. Silva himself credits the influence of Fernando Chalana at Benfica's academy for opening his eyes. The player would later describe that conversation as being the single most important of his life.
Chalana, a 5'5" player himself, told the teenage Bernardo not to be disheartened by his lack of minutes at the academy because he would go on to be better than all of them. One recalls speaking to Benfica coach Joao Tralhao about how this changed everything.
"He needed to change his mentality," Tralhao explained. "Professional football will put many obstacles in front of you and you cannot give up, you have to step up. He needed to understand what he could work on and what he could not work on." It worked.
Despite his tiny frame, Silva turned himself into a running machine, a robust figure like few others in the game, leading the press for City, setting the tone. A favourite of his team-mates and of the fans, Silva did not need that Ballon d'Or recognition.
Speaking to him about this in the summer of 2024, he listened patiently when this journalist put that question of football's individual prizes to him. He thought about the question. And then made it very obvious just where those trinkets rank for him.
"In my opinion, I give the right amount of importance to these awards," he said, tellingly. "Because, at the end of the day, we are playing a collective sport. Nowadays, the individual awards always go to the strikers because they have that last touch."
He added: "When I look at individual awards and see that only the guys who score win the awards, I feel a bit like it does not represent our sport that well." For Silva, City's unselfish maestro, it is always the team. But that makes him a special individual.
