Barcelona reportedly don’t want to pay the release clause to sign one Manchester City’s player this summer.
The previous summer transfer window saw the La Liga club sign Ilkay Gundogan on a free transfer and secure a season-long loan deal for Joao Cancelo.
Now though, some behind-the-scenes details have come to light regarding another City figure they have on their radar ahead of the next summer window.
Barcelona not impressed with release clause of Man City star
According to a recent report from AS, Barcelona still have Bernardo Silva as a transfer target for this summer, although he’s not a priority.
They also consider the £50m release clause in his contract to be excessive and may only make a move for the 29-year-old if they make sales first.
The report also adds that Xavi, who has now decided that he will be staying on as Barcelona’s manager for next season, is still a big admirer of Silva after trying to convince him to join the Spanish club last summer.
Since joining the Manchester club back in the 2017 summer transfer window in a deal worth £43m, the midfielder has made 349 appearances for City across all competitions.
Out of those 349 games, Silva has scored 66 goals, supplied 62 assists and won numerous domestic and European titles.
Bernardo Silva has proved himself to be a crucial player for City
Having started 37 of the 43 games he’s appeared in this season, it’s clear that the midfield star, who is picking up a weekly wage of £300k-a-week, is a key figure for the team.
In fact, after seeing him score the winner in City’s 1-0 win over Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Cup last weekend, Pep Guardiola said that he feels “safe” and “comfortable” when the Portuguese international is on the pitch because of how intelligent and intuitive Silva is in terms of being able to keep the ball.
With all of that taken into account we feel that if Barcelona don’t feel like paying the release clause in the City star’s contract, they should forget about signing him altogether.
