Bernardo Silva as hailed Manchester City starlet Phil Foden as an ‘unbelievable’ talent, and says he is good enough to play regularly at Champions League-level.

Foden, at just 19, is already a double Premier League champion, a two-time Carabao Cup winner and FA Cup holder.

However, the youngster has been linked with moves away from the Etihad Stadium owing to his lack of regular game time at the top level in a City shirt.

Getty Images - Getty 3 Phil Foden grabbed a goal and an assist as Man City beat Dinamo Zagreb in their final Champions League group match – but that was only the fourth time he has completed 90 minutes this season

The teenage midfielder is among the country’s most talented players of his generation, and has been regularly praised by his manager Pep Guardiola.

And while his game time at City has improved this season, so far making 18 appearances, he has only played 149 minutes altogether in the Premier League and has only completed 90 minutes four times, and three of those were in the League Cup.

With a host of world-class players ahead of him in the squad, Foden has been linked with several loan spells to get more experience and will no doubt will be linked with more now the January transfer window is open.

But fellow midfielder Silva insists everyone at City knows of Foden’s quality and has urged his teammate to be patient.

Speaking ahead of Manchester City’s New Year’s Day clash against Everton on Wednesday – LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on talkSPORT – the Portuguese ace said:

“Phil is unbelievable.

GETTY 3 Bernardo Silva has hailed Phil Foden as an ‘unbelievable’ talent

“Every time he plays he is really good, but sometimes it’s not easy.

“Phil has the quality to play in teams that play in the Champions League, but in his position he has David [Silva], Kevin [De Bruyne] or Gundo [Ilkay Gundogan], so sometimes it’s tough.”

Bernardo speaks from experience.

The Portuguese star came through the ranks Benfica, but only made three senior appearances for his boyhood club. It was Monaco where he made his name, joining the French side initially on loan before making his move permanent in 2015. He went on to win the Ligue 1 title with Monaco before signing for City.

getty 3 Bernardo Silva came through the ranks at Benfica but made his name at Monaco

And, asked to compare his experience of the City and Benfica academies and the opportunists they present to young players, he said:

“In terms of players coming to the first-team, it’s obviously more difficult to start at Man City than at Benfica, so it’s not fair to compare.

“But as Benfica works a lot with their young players, I think City are trying harder and harder to improve and bring some players to the first-team.

“When you have a squad like ours, it’s not easy for a young kid of 17, 18 or 19 to come and start playing with us.

“But we have good players coming in from the youth, like Phil, and hopefully there’ll be more and more.”

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