Manchester City midfielder ‘dreams’ of signing for Barcelona – report

Barcelona’s transfer plans for the summer transfer window are starting to take a definitive shape as they look to build a strong enough squad to topple arch-rivals Real Madrid next season.

Having already closed the deals for Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie’s arrivals, the current priority for Barcelona is to complete the signing of ace goalscorer Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich.

The German champions are putting up a strong fight, but the Catalans believe that a deal for around €40 million can be struck, as the 33-year-old striker has been pressuring the Bavarians with his public declaration of wanting to leave.

Apart from Lewandowski, another name that is being discussed heavily at Barcelona, as per Diario AS, is that of Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva.

The 27-year-old has long been on the radars of the Blaugrana and having come close to leaving the Etihad last summer, he is believed to be looking for a change of scenery again this year.

The report adds that Silva ‘dreams’ of playing for Barcelona, having been a supporter of the club since his childhood. At the same time, the Catalan giants would also welcome a move with open arms, but there will be a lot of complications involved in the deal going through.

For starters, the Portuguese international is contracted with Man City until 2025 and has a market value of €80 million. The only way Barcelona can hope to match that is by selling one of their current superstars for a similar amount, with Frenkie de Jong a possibility.

However, the Dutchman has made it clear that he does not wish to leave Barça, while the Citizens have no desire to let go of Silva, making the entire operation an extremely difficult one to pull off.

As a result, the Blaugrana will look to focus on more realistic targets for now, and try to close the Lewandowski deal before moving on to other achievable transfers like Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso.

As for Silva, there may be mutual admiration between the player and the club, but at the moment, an operation would be too complicated to pull off.