Pep purring over Silva

MANCHESTER. — Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says he is “so grateful” to the club’s board for signing Bernardo Silva from Monaco this summer.

The midfielder cost a reported £43 million when he became City’s first signing of the transfer window in May and debuted on Friday in a preseason win over West Ham in Iceland.

And Mourinho told City’s website on Monday that the 22-year-old should make an immediate impact in the English Premier League.

“I’m so grateful -- thanks so much to the club for picking him up,” Guardiola said. “Bernardo played his first minutes and he was immediately ready to play. Intelligent players don’t need time to be involved in the way we want to play.

“Bernardo is a guy who loves football, who lives 24 hours thinking about the game. I like that. He is a humble guy -- he’s so intelligent, which is a huge quality. Close to the box he has the quality to score a lot of goals and he’s a fighter too so he’s going to help us during the season.” Guardiola also said he was happy to get through the preseason without any injuries during a long tour of the United States.

“I am so happy because they work well, and especially no injuries,” Guardiola added. “I am so grateful to my physios to control the amount of work. We cancelled just one training session in the States because of the weather.

“We played good games against four amazing teams. It was a good test for us.