Manchester City rejected a late bid from Barcelona for Bernardo Silva.
The Portugal international, 28, is a long-term target for Barcelona and the Catalan giants have tried on several occasions to sign the player. Their latest offer was a loan deal that contained an obligation to buy Silva in the summer - but City have knocked it back.
City's refusal to sell Silva in the final few hours of the transfer window contradicts comments made by Pep Guardiola. The City boss has previously insisted he will not keep players who want to leave, with reports in Spain suggesting Silva wants to join Barcelona.
As reported by Spanish outlet AS, Barcelona tried to sign Silva one last time. It is claimed Barcelona made an approach to sign the playmaker on deadline day, although that report suggests no official bid was made.
Guardiola has previously admitted Silva "likes Barcelona a lot" and it is believed the former Monaco star wants to move to the Camp Nou, but City are not budging at this late stage in the transfer window. They have already let Joao Cancelo join Bayern Munich on loan.
City refusal to let Silva join Barcelona contradicts what Guardiola said after Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko joined Arsenal last summer. "When you don't want to stay and want to leave, you cannot stay," claimed the City boss.
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Furthermore, when Raheem Sterling joined Chelsea in the same transfer window, Guardiola said: "If you force one person to stay when he doesn’t want to stay how can you get the best from him? It's impossible. I would love to stay all together but at the same time if a player wants to leave then we will find a solution."
Silva has played more than 280 games since joining City from Monaco in the summer of 2017. He has helped Guardiola's side win 11 trophies - including four Premier League titles - and started their 1-0 Champions League final defeat to Chelsea in May 2021.
Silva has also won league titles in Portugal and in France with Benfica and Monaco respectively. The 78-cap international was named as the Nations League's Player of the Tournament in 2019 after helping Portugal win the inaugural edition of the competition.
Guardiola discussed the idea of Silva joining Barcelona after a friendly between the two teams last August. The Spaniard said: "I'm no one to tell Barca to forget about [signing] Bernardo. We want him to stay with us, but I don't want anyone who's not happy.
"The first thing would be for the clubs to come to an agreement, but there has been no offer for him in these last two years.
"I don't want him to go, he's a superlative player and a great person... and there are only seven or eight days left [in the window] and we would have to turn to the transfer market. I want him to stay. That said, it is true Bernardo likes Barcelona a lot."
