Manchester City demand two Barcelona players in any deal for Bernardo Silva - Reports
According to El Nacional, Manchester City demanded Pedri and Frenkie de Jong to be included in a deal for Bernardo Silva to join Barcelona. The proposal, though, have been rejected by the Catalan club.
Barca have long been interested in Silva and the Portuguese is one of the creative players in the European circuit at this point in time. While the Blaugrana have already signed Ilkay Gundogan on a free transfer from Manchester City, signing Silva is a different ball game because the Portuguese will cost a significantly more sum of money.
The Catalan club, however, are set to sanction two sells as Ousmane Dembele is set to join PSG while Franck Kessie will complete a move to Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli. Hence, fans are getting a slight hope about concluding a deal for Silva.
The aforementioned El Nacional report, though suggested that Manchester City want Pedri and Frenkie de Jong to be a part of the deal to reduce Silva's transfer fee. The two players, however, are considered untouchable at the club and are two of Barcelona's main assets.
City boss Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, was recently quizzed about Silva's situation amidst interest from Barca. The Spaniard replied, telling the media (via GOAL):
"I want to clarify that I said I don't want any player who doesn't want to be here. But we have to get an offer, we didn't get a proper offer. so that's why."
Guardiola added:
"He's our player, we want him and if they [Barca] want him they will take a plane, they will come here and they will talk with our sporting director and CEO to arrive to an agreement."
'Barcelona had an offer from Manchester City for Leo Messi': Andre Curry
Agent Andre Curry recently said that back in 2020, Manchester City made a stunning €200 million offer to sign Lionel Messi from Barcelona. The Argentina captain left the club the following year.
It is evident that Messi ended up at Paris Saint-Germain after Barca were unable to renew his contract due to La Liga's wage cap rule. But, things could have been different with City tabling a spectacular offer for the Argentina captain a year ago Curry told AS:
"Barcelona had an offer from Manchester City of up to 200 million euros for Leo Messi a year before he left, and they didn’t want to sell him. A year before, they knew he was going to finish his contract.”
Messi played some of the best football of his career under Pep Guardiola at Barca. A move to City would have given the Argentine the chance to reunite with the Spaniard.