Barcelona has inquired with Manchester City about Aymeric Laporte and Bernardo Silva, reports marca. The Catalans are betting on an exchange deal as a result of the financial problems, but have been rejected. Manchester City are not interested in the players Barca has to offer and only want to cooperate for cash.
The biggest name Barça wanted to get into a swap deal is probably Ousmane Dembélé. The French attacker’s contract at the Camp Nou expires in a year and Barca want to avoid a transfer-free departure anyway. Samuel Umtiti, Junior Firpo, Miralem Pjanic, Martin Braithwaite, Sergi Roberto and Clément Lenglet are also on display, but Manchester City are not interested in any of the players.
Only players like Frenkie de Jong, Pedri and Ansu Fati would the Citizens warm to exchange projects, but Barça is absolutely not willing to let its three growth brilliants leave. So the Spaniards will have to pay for Laporte and Bernardo Silva. Both players must marca bring in at least EUR 60 million, amounts that Barcelona cannot afford given the financial situation.
City themselves paid 65 million euros for Laporte, who came over from Athletic Club in early 2018. The 27-year-old centre-back, who recently took on Spanish football nationality, has now lost his base place in England to John Stones and Rúben Dias and usually sits on the bench. For Bernardo Silva, City transferred fifty million euros to AS Monaco in 2017. The 26-year-old Portuguese had a role in City’s championship year as a regular base player.
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