Barcelona have blown their hopes of prising Bernardo Silva away from Manchester City with their dirty tricks campaign to unsettle the Portuguese midfielder.
The constant claims from the Nou Camp that the Catalan club expect to snatch Silva away to La Liga have not gone down well at the Etihad. City are yet to be told by Barca that they even have an interest in Silva - and the player’s agent, Jorge Mendes, has not informed them that the 28-year-old wants to leave.
City don’t want to sell Silva - and have slapped an £80million-plus valuation on his head in the knowledge that the Spanish club are skint. Barcelona ’s claims that they believe they will get their man for just £60million once they have pulled enough economic levers to satisfy FFP have been ridiculed in Manchester.
City travel to Spain to face Barcelona in a friendly next week and are expected to take Silva with them to make the point that he’s going nowhere. Pep Guardiola has said he doesn’t know if Silva will still be in his squad when the transfer window closes.
But the City boss has started the former Benfica and Monaco star on the bench for the first two games of the campaign after fearing that his head has been turned. Silva has failed to quell speculation that he wants to be sold. But even if he now informs City that he wants to leave and Barcelona somehow come up with the money that the champions will demand, his departure appears unlikely.
Guardiola will not weaken a squad that is already light on numbers when it comes to senior players. And unless City are able to find a replacement then the livewire No 20 will find his route out of Manchester closed.
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Last summer, Silva asked City for permission to leave for personal reasons, with Spain his preferred destination. But no club was able to come up with the £65million City were asking last summer - and Guardiola was able to persuade the midfielder to knuckle down and help the Blues retain the title.
Silva, a £43.5million recruit from Monaco five years ago, was given a rousing reception from City’s fans when he came on as a second-half substitute in the 4-0 win over Bournemouth on Saturday.
He waved to supporters at the final whistle and then threw his shirt into the crowd. But City insists he was not saying goodbye. Silva has won four title medals, the FA Cup and four League Cups with City and is a hugely popular member of Guardiola’s squad.
