Pep Guardiola has said he relies on the Manchester City attacking midfielder Bernardo Silva for the next season plans. This is amid reports that the Spanish giants Barcelona are interested in the Portuguese international and is top of Xavi’s wishlist.
Man City Square reported on the links that the Portuguese playmaker was keen to leave after being unhappy with his living situation in England, despite claiming he has a deep love for the club.
As things stand it looks like Guardiola and the club counts on Silva for the next season’s project as Pep said: “As of today, in my opinion, I think Bernardo Silva will continue with Man City next season. Our goal as a club is for him to stay with us.”
It looked as though there was a hint that Guardiola would let Silva go if Barcelona came knocking with a strong interest and with the right price as City said to be asking around 85 million euros to 95, “Our intention is to keep him, although I don’t like to keep players at Man City that are unhappy.” Said the city coach.
As Guardiola has reportedly said that he won’t stand in anyone’s way if a player wants to leave City, and with Silva heavily linked with Barcelona and being a key player for Guardiola it is yet to be seen if Guardiola will let him go as he had done with previous departure to Catalan giants Eric Garcia and Ferran Torres.
Manchester City will play Barcelona in Nou Camp in a friendly match on the 24 August to raise funds for ALS research. The City manager was there to announce the match against his former club and he was seated alongside Barcelona president Joan Laporta.
According to Manchester Evening News, before the journalists could ask questions to both men regarding the Silva rumours, Guardiola promised to bring out all of his top City men.
It is then that Laporta ‘cheekily’ asked whether Bernardo would be among the squad and Guardiola replied with a smile to confirm that the midfielder “and ten more” would play the match in City colours.
It seems like this transfer story may continue to rumble on throughout the summer but Cityzens will be hoping they get to see Bernardo for at least one more season.