Pep Guardiola admits he won't stop Bernardo Silva joining Barcelona
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has suggested he wouldn’t stop Bernardo Silva leaving the club for Barcelona because he ‘doesn’t want anyone to be unhappy’.
Silva has continued to be linked with the Catalan giants this summer, having first informed City that he wanted to leave in 2020 after struggling off the pitch during the UK’s first Covid-19 lockdown.
City have held firm in their stance that they are not interested in negotiating a transfer, but Guardiola has spoken more than once refusing to rule anything out – earlier this month, he compared the situation to Gabriel Jesus, Raheem Sterling and Oleksandr Zinchenko all leaving.
At executive level, City have taken a firmer stance, with chief executive Ferran Soriano ruling out a sale earlier this week on the basis that there isn’t time to find a replacement.
"It's too late to talk about entrances and exits,” Soriano explained.
Speaking after City’s ALS fundraiser game against Barcelona at Camp Nou on Wednesday night, Guardiola gave his latest take on the ongoing saga.
“He is our player,” the Spaniard said of Bernardo. “We want him to be with us because he is very important. Having said that, I don't want anyone to be unhappy.
“But I don't want him to leave because he is a superlative player. As a player and as a person, he is one of the best I have ever had. In any competition he is the best player. If an offer arrives there are seven days left and if Bernardo leaves, we would have to go to the market and not it's easy.
“Having said that, Bernardo likes Barcelona a lot.”
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There also remains the not-insignificant matter of Barcelona’s finances. The Catalan giants remain in an extremely difficult position and have had to trigger several ‘economic levers’ just to enable them to register new signings Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen, as well as new contracts for Ousmane Dembele and Sergi Roberto.
But new arrival Jules Kounde is still waiting to be registered in accordance with La Liga salary cap regulations, which is dependent on others leaving the club first.