Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez has not ruled out Bernardo Silva joining the club from Manchester City before deadline day next week.
Silva notably featured as the two clubs took part in a friendly match in aid of ALS research on Wednesday evening and has been a target for the Blaugrana all summer. But Barca’s failure to sell their highest earning player Frenkie de Jong has stalled any potential move for the Portugal ace.
Pep Guardiola turned down the opportunity to rule out a stunning late move for Silva to the Camp Nou, despite his status and importance to City’s squad and his role in helping them to win four Premier League titles in the past five seasons, while Paris Saint-Germain have also reportedly seen a £59million move rejected.
Guardiola said earlier this week on Silva, after City played out a 3-3 friendly draw against Barca at the Camp Nou: "He is our player. 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."
Xavi has now admitted that while any deal would be ‘difficult’, he refused to rule out the possibility of a deal being concluded in the closing days of the transfer window: "You never lose hope, but it's difficult. It's complicated. We're only a few days away. We must have players leaving too."
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Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski and Jules Kounde have all joined Barca’s ranks this summer as the club look to immediately challenge for major honours again after a three-season drought of the title in La Liga and without a Champions League final appearance since 2015.
Silva has bagged 49 goals across 255 first-team appearances for City since his transfer from Monaco in 2017 and has flourished under Guardiola's coaching. However, last season he enjoyed more prominence than ever – with a career-high 33 Premier League starts and eight Premier League goals while starting in 11 of the club's 12 Champions League matches.
Guardiola acknowledged interest from Barca in the player earlier this year and despite his insistence of wanting to keep the star, he did not take up the chance to rule out a switch: "Today I think Bernardo Silva will stay. But as I've always said, from my time at Barca, I don't want players who don't want to be at my club. What I can say is that Bernardo is important to us."
Silva featured in 50 games for City last season in which he scored 13 goals and provided seven assists, so it is easy to see why Barca boss Xavi is such a fan. However, any deal appears to be wrought with complications at the transfer window enters its closing days.
