FC Barcelona are obsessed with signing Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, it has been claimed.
The 27-year-old has been on Man City’s books since 2017 when he joined from AS Monaco.
Since then, Silva has played a key role in Manchester City dominating the English game, especially in 2018/19 when the Portuguese was arguably in the best form of his career as City notched a century of points in the Premier League.
However, even though Man City have continued to be the pinnacle of English football, Silva did look to be eyeing an exit this past summer.
No exit was forthcoming for Silva, though, and he went on to impress across the course of the 2021/22 campaign.
However, with the summer transfer window now open, Silva’s future has once again been called into question.
As per journalist Helena Condis, Barca remain obsessed with signing Bernardo Siva from Manchester City despite boasting a well-stocked midfield unit.
The Portuguese has been among one of Xavi’s top targets this summer, but a move for the midfielder is contingent on the future of Frenkie de Jong. On that front, Condis adds that the Blaugrana are confident De Jong will eventually accept his fate and leave Camp Nou.
A process that will probably be sped up by the fact Xavi keeps playing the former Ajax star at centre-back in pre-season.
But even if Manchester United do end up landing De Jong, his transfer fee is not expected to come close to what City want for Silva.
Figures of between €60-70m have been floated for De Jong, whilst Manchester City are believed to want €100m for Silva.
So how can Barcelona afford this deal? Well, as 101 covered on Friday, Barcelona have activated their second economic lever, handing them a cash injection of upwards of 300m euros (£254m).
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