Manchester City and Bernardo Silva are set for crunch contract talks as they look to move on from Barcelona’s interest in the midfielder last summer.
Silva is under contract at Manchester City until 2025, and has appeared in every game so far this season for the Cityzens, but the Mail report that “City are keen to determine if the Portugal star will again seek to leave the club at the end of this season” after two summers of speculation around his future.
Barcelona are known to be keen on adding the 28-year-old to their ranks, and for his part Silva is thought to be very keen on a move to the Camp Nou, but it seems unlikely that Xavi’s side could afford to prise him away from Manchester City.
The Cityzens have a track record of letting players leave should they wish to depart, as was seen in the cases of Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko last summer. However, that is only the case should they receive the fee they demand, and the report claims that this time will be no different.
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“City would not stand in his way if the Portugal international still wanted to leave and they received an offer of more than £80million.”
Speaking about the interest from Barcelona over the summer, Bernardo Silva’s father revealed that “There were a lot of talks, but no concrete offer was made at the times we thought were right.”
This summer, with Barcelona’s finances looking more stable, could be the right time. Should it prove the case, it will leave Manchester City with a massive hole to fill in midfield, with Ilkay Gundogan also out of contract in July and yet to pen an extension.
