Barcelona has ruled out a move for Bernardo Silva of Manchester City because they are unwilling to pay his £70.8 million asking price.
Silva, who moved to Premier League champions City from Monaco in 2017, was extensively linked with a summer transfer to the Catalan giants.
The international player from Portugal recently acknowledged his ambition to maybe launch a new endeavor outside of City.
Given their previous interest in the 28-year-old, it was expected that Barcelona would be at the top of the list of elite clubs that Silva’s remarks would have alerted.
Joan Laporta, president of Barcelona, has refuted those rumors, stating that the club will not pay Silva’s exorbitant transfer fee in order to sign him to a contract at the Nou Camp.
Laporta said to the Spanish publication Cadena Ser:
‘Bernardo Silva for €80million (£70.8million) will surely not come… because we will not pay them.’
These remarks follow Silva’s audacious statements about his future, in which he even alluded to a potential return to his previous club Benfica.
Silva told Portuguese outlet Record:
‘I’m very focused on this season and it doesn’t make sense to talk about leaving because we’re in the middle of the season.’
‘I’m 28 years old, I’ll be 29 in the summer, and I have two more years on my Manchester City contract. My contract would end at 31.
‘I won’t hide that my goal in the coming years, if something good happens elsewhere, will probably be to move to a new project.’
Silva added:
‘Going into a new project at the age of 29, I’ll only finish this contract probably at 34. If you ask me: what did you think 10 years ago? My goal was to return to Benfica at the age of 32 at the most. What do I think today? It depends on what happens next summer.
‘I’m not going to lie: it’s not something I don’t think about. I think about it every year. It has always been a goal.’
Bernardo Silva has won 11 trophies in total at the Etihad Stadium, including four Premier League championships, four EFL Cups, one FA Cup, and two Community Shields.
In 15 Premier League games so far this season, he has two goals and five assists, giving him 50 goals and 56 assists for the club in 275 appearances.
