Manchester City could lose Bernardo Silva to Barcelona, now that a vacancy is appearing for the Portuguese in Xavi's lineup
(Image credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Manchester City could lose Bernardo Silva in the coming weeks with the Portuguese "desperate" to move to Barcelona.
The Treble winners have already lost their captain and Pep Guardiola's first-ever signing at the Etihad Stadium, Ilkay Gundogan, to the La Liga champions, this summer – with Guardiola replacing the German with Mateo Kovacic.
But with more sales expected in the coming weeks – Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo and Aymeric Laporte are all rumoured to be heading for the exit door – Barcelona may seize the opportunity to snatch another Manchester City star.
Pep Guardiola is reshaping his City squad this summer (Image credit: Tom Flathers/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
Spanish outlet Diario Sportclaims that Silva is "desperate" for the move to Barcelona – and though the transfer is still a way off, one obstacle appears to have been removed.
Barça's financial woes have been well documented, with the club struggling to complete big-money transfers of late. This is one of the biggest reasons why a move is yet to materialise: 90min have confirmed that City "won't stand in the way" if the midfielder wants to leave, though could perhaps take some comfort from the belief that the Catalan outfit wouldn't meet the asking price for the player.
According to Fabrizio Romano, however, Paris Saint-Germain are on the brink of signing Ousmane Dembele for a fee of around €50 million, despite missing a deadline of when the Frenchman's release clause doubled to €100m. Even €50m would give Barça a cash injection, with Silva a likely candidate to play on the right wing in Dembele's absence.
Despite this logic, a deal would not be so easy in reality. Silva would likely become one of Barça's highest earners with any contract he would sign, while City are likely to value the 28-year-old to be worth almost double what Dembele's departing Spain for.
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Ousmane Dembele could be a vital player in any Bernardo Silva to Barcelona deal (Image credit: David Aliaga/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
It's therefore far more likely that Barcelona pursue Cancelo. Ivan Fresneda is the second-choice, as per Romano.
Mark White is the Digital Content Editor at FourFourTwo. During his time on the brand, Mark has written three cover features on Mikel Arteta, Martin Odegaard and the Invincibles, and has written pieces on subjects ranging from Sir Bobby Robson’s time at Barcelona to the career of Robinho. An encyclopedia of football trivia and collector of shirts, he first joined the team back in 2020 as a staff writer.
