Bernardo Silva has apparently told Manchester City he’d like to leave the club during the summer.
The midfielder recently ended his latest season with the Citizens having won the treble after being close to leaving last summer.
With the summer transfer window now open, some behind-the-scenes details have been shared on the situation.
Journalist claims Silva will leave City this summer
Speaking on a recent edition of the Talking Transfers podcast, journalist Graeme Bailey said this about Silva.
He said: “He’s basically reaffirmed to the club that he wants to leave. He made it known last summer, City weren’t particularly happy because he hadn’t long signed a new deal before he’d said that so they were like, ‘look, you’ve got to give us another year.’
“They’d just sold [Oleksandr] Zinchenko and [Gabriel] Jesus so they weren’t going to let another key player go, so he’s given them another year, he’s done really well.
“City are accepting he can go, but as we said a few weeks ago, they want market value for him, they want at least £75m which is proper market value for Bernardo Silva, one of the best creative midfielders in the Premier League.
“We know Barcelona are keen and we talked before about the [Lionel] Messi replacement, I think this would be the nearest name we’ve seen and we know it’s a player that Barcelona love. Are Barcelona going to come up with £75m? There may be a way of doing it, they come up with all sorts of deals Barcelona.
“I think they will pursue Bernardo Silva. But it seems that he’s thinking now maybe a move to PSG might suit him and so PSG are very much into him, they’ll pay the money.
“I do expect Bernardo Silva to leave, we know Pep [Guardiola] doesn’t like to keep unhappy players and he’s not going to keep him around.
“It’ll be a blow to City, you don’t like to lose these players but I think every club would like to have this ability City have if someone doesn’t want to play for you, you let them go and that’s what I think is going to happen here with Bernardo Silva.”
As Bailey mentioned, the likes of Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain have been linked with the 28-year-old in recent times, meaning that it if he likely to leave this summer, these are the clubs he could find himself at if either pay a suitable fee for Silva.
Taking into account how the Portuguese international featured in 55 games for City last season across all competitions, this showcases how crucial he is for the team.
In fact, with Guardiola describing the midfielder as a “special” player and with Jack Grealish seemingly asking Silva to not leave the club during their recent celebrations, this further highlights how much of a popular figure he is at the Etihad Stadium and why it would be a blow if he were to leave as Bailey said.
Moving forward, while it wouldn’t be ideal to keep hold of the midfielder if he has his heart set on moving away from City and would be unhappy if he were to stay, the club must make sure they get a suitable transfer fee for him.
