Man City ace to force Guardiola hand with transfer request as staggering £20m failure comes to light
A bombshell report has revealed which club is most likely to sign Bernardo Silva from Manchester City, with the attacking midfielder preparing to hand in a transfer request after a £20million failure from Pep Guardiola’s side.
City spent £43million to sign Silva from French outfit Monaco in July 2017. He arrived at the Etihad after helping Monaco to win their first Ligue 1 title in 17 years during the 2016-17 campaign.
Silva has proven to be a brilliant signing by City, becoming a crucial player for Guardiola and helping the side to win plenty of trophies. While the Portuguese has been in Manchester, City have won four league titles, one FA Cup and four EFL Cups.
Despite Silva and City clearly benefitting from working together, his future there has come into doubt.
Silva has spoken openly about his desire to take part in a new challenge by joining another team. He feels he could do with different scenery to revitalise himself, and due to this it is unlikely he will sign a new City deal. His current terms there expire in June 2025.
Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona are understood to be the two main clubs vying for Silva’s services.
According to Goal, who cite reports coming out of Spain, the 28-year-old is far more likely to sign for PSG than Barca this summer.
This is because PSG have made Silva their ‘number one priority’ for the next transfer window. Luis Campos, PSG’s sporting adviser, is desperate to capture Silva to revamp Christophe Galtier’s midfield.
Man City player to push hard for exit
And should the Ligue 1 leaders enter discussions with City, it is claimed Silva will hand in a transfer request to try and make the move a reality.
It must be noted that Barca remain interested in the playmaker. But the finances required to reach an agreement are way out of their reach.
Last summer, PSG offered City €70m (£61m) for Silva, but this bid was turned down as Guardiola’s side told them he would only leave for €90m (£80m).
However, with Silva’s contract gradually running down and the player considering handing in a transfer request, City will be forced to back down from those lofty demands.
City could now sell him for that £61m fee which was offered last summer. This will see them lose out on almost £20m.
Some City fans may question why Silva would want to swap City for PSG. After all, PSG were knocked out of the Champions League yet again recently, while City are through to the quarter-finals. Plus, the Prem is a far stronger league than the French top flight right now.
But there are two reasons why Silva is seemingly considering a move to the Parc des Princes. The first is that he could re-establish his great relationship with Kylian Mbappe. The pair played together at Monaco and enjoyed great success.
Mbappe has told PSG chiefs they should sign Silva, which means the City ace would likely walk into the PSG team if he made such a transfer.
The second factor to consider is helping PSG to their first piece of Champions League glory. The French giants have so far been unable to lift the coveted trophy, despite having top stars in their squad.
Silva will believe that he can get PSG to achieve their ultimate goal after helping City to lift so much silverware. This is something which has lured plenty of great players to PSG and could once again work with Silva.
Meanwhile, Ben Jacobs has provided the latest on Erling Haaland’s future in his column for TEAMtalk.
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