The midfielder was given until Wednesday to reply to his charge but has been granted a 12-day extension

Bernardo Silva has been granted an extension until October 21 to respond to the Football Association (FA) charge relating to his racially insensitive tweet to Manchester City team-mate Benjamin Mendy.

Silva last month tweeted – and subsequently deleted – a photo of a young Mendy and a dated image from Conguitos, a Spanish confectionary brand that has been criticised for having racist connotations. The post was captioned “Guess who?”.

A week ago, the FA charged the 25-year-old playmaker with an alleged breach of FA Rule E3 on account of the post being “insulting and/or improper and/or [bringing] the game into disrepute”.

It was further alleged the offence amounts to an “aggravated breach” because it included “reference, whether expressed or implied, to race and/or colour and/or ethnic origin”.

Silva was given until Wednesday, October 9 to provide a response, but Omnisport understands the extension of 12 days was granted following an application to the chairman of the judicial panel.

If found guilty, Silva could face a fine and/or a suspension and be enrolled on an education course.

The FA this year increased its minimum ban for instances of racist abuse during matches to six games, although this does not automatically apply to social media posts.

Silva and Mendy are firm friends from their time together at Monaco, before each signed for City in 2017. As part of a submission to the FA, in which Silva expressed regret for any hurt unintentionally caused, Mendy issued support on his team-mate’s behalf – stating he took no offence over the post.

City manager Pep Guardiola and forward Raheem Sterling are among those to have defended Silva’s character in the aftermath of the tweet , which was condemned by anti-discrimination pressure group Kick It Out.

The midfielder was also defended by former club Benfica, who added that “opening a misconduct charge demonstrates and signals a disease of our times”.

Currently with his national team, Silva and Portugal are set to face Luxembourg and Ukraine in Euro qualifiers before Manchester City returns against Crystal Palace following the conclusion of the international break.