Carlos Borges has revealed that former Manchester City captain Fernandinho was someone who helped him settle in at the club and gave him advice about being around the senior squad.
The 19-year-old has been at the Manchester club since 2014, just a year after the Brazilian arrived from Shakhtar Donetsk.
Even though the winger hasn’t made a competitive senior appearance for Pep Guardiola’s side, he has trained with the first team on previous occasions.
Having been at the club for so long, the teenager has shed some light on one figure that also spent a significant amount of time at the Etihad Stadium and the relationship he had with him.
Borges hails Fernandinho
Speaking in a recent video published on the club’s YouTube channel, Borges said this when asked by Nedum Onuoha how he felt the first time he trained with the senior squad at City.
He said: “It was just exciting, I wasn’t nervous. At the time, Fernandinho was there, he gave me advice. He was a proper leader, a true leader and it helped because obviously he spoke Portuguese.”
During his time at City, the midfielder made 383 appearances across all competitions, winning five Premier League titles and numerous other trophies along the way.
Borges isn’t the only one to highlight how much of an impressive leader the Brazilian was at the Manchester club, as he described him as an “incredible” player and person who always tried to help those around him.
This makes it rather unsurprising to hear that the teenager is a big admirer of the 38-year-old and saw him as someone to look up to and get advice from about becoming accustomed to training with the senior squad at City.
Moving forward, if Borges wants to make his senior debut in Guardiola’s side next season, he’ll have to use the advice that Fernandinho gave to him and even look to current players in the squad that have been around for a while such as Kevin De Bruyne, for example, for more guidance.
