Bernardo Silva is reportedly set to renew his contract with Manchester City, in a major transfer … [+] blow to FC Barcelona.
UEFA via Getty ImagesFC Barcelona have received a huge transfer blow if reports from well-informed SPORT and Relevo journalist Toni Juanmarti on Bernardo Silva are accurate.
According to Juanmarti, the midfielder is willing to extend his contract with current club Manchester City, who are working „on a very important renewal proposal“.
Silva is attracted to joining Barca the Catalan journalist explained, and asked City for a few weeks in case a reasonable offer came in for him from the Blaugrana which has thus far failed to materialise.
With the English football season already starting this weekend, however, with City taking on Arsenal in the Community Shield, Silva has assumed that he „must be realistic“.
In an update on his report, Juanmarti added that City have never wanted to sell Bernardo, whose current terms expire in 2025. Yet the club’s Abu Dhabi owners have a promise with the player that if a fair bid comes in for him from Barca and they can find a replacement for him, his exit would be negotiated out of respect for everything that Portuguese has done for the Mancunians since joining from Monaco in 2017.
On Friday, SPORT reported that cash-strapped Barca were preparing a package of €65 million plus €10 million in add-ons for Silva that would probably fall short of their asking price considering they have already reportedly knocked back a €80 million offer from Paris Saint-Germain.
Later that afternoon, though, his City boss Guardiola appeared to give the green light to the potential operation by saying: „I don’t want any players who don’t want to be here. I want to work with guys who want to stay.
„But we need a proper offer, we didn’t… If they want him, they’ll get on a plane and speak to our sporting director…,“ the ex-Barca head coach then trailed off.
If 29-year-old Silva does indeed commit his future to the Sky Blues, however, it seems as though he will never don Blaugrana with president Joan Laporta pushed to focus on other targets in an area of the pitch manager Xavi Hernandez wants strengthening.