Bernardo Silva’s preferred destination revealed as Manchester City star seeks exit | OneFootball

Bernardo Silva has been told he does not feature in Manchester City’s plans past the 2024-25 campaign and a new report has detailed where the Portuguese could land when he seeks a summer move.

Silva has held a long-standing desire to join Barcelona since the COVID-19 pandemic but the Spanish club’s financial restraints are well known in the world of Manchester City and has often been a running joke amongst the club’s online fanbase.

Barcelona have regularly courted Silva in summer transfer windows since 2020 but they’ve never appeared to have cash on their hands to pay market value for the 30-year-old, who will be out of contract at the Etihad Stadium in 2026.

However, Manchester City have reportedly informed Silva he is not in the club’s plans beyond the ongoing season and with just over a year left on the midfielder’s deal, the Premier League champions will listen to offers for their £43 million signing from 2017.

Kevin De Bruyne has announced he will be leaving Manchester City in the coming months and the Belgium international is almost certain to see his Portuguese teammate join him through the exit door when City begin their squad revamp in the summer.

Hugo Viana is in the building and has already begun his audit of the first-team as he looks to take over from sporting director Txiki Begiristain, who is believed to have postponed his departure from the club until the end of the summer transfer window.

As detailed by Belgian football journalist Sacha Tavolieri, Benfica are ready to make a deal happen for Silva and negotiations are being handled by super agent Jorge Mendes, who is believed to have a strong relationship with Viana.

Silva wishes to return to his former club, who are understood to hold no chance to table a fee that would match the playmaker’s release clause from Manchester City, which is believed to worth £50 million.

Silva has once again, quite inevitably, attracted interest from Barcelona but the La Liga side are skint and are deemed to be heavy outsiders in the race to sign the Manchester City man, who has always said he would love to return to his homeland to play for his former club.

Several clubs in the Saudi Pro League are also believed to hold an interest in signing Silva and whilst De Bruyne may choose Saudi Arabia as his next destination, it is understood that Silva does not consider the SPL as a priority when ranking his options for the new season.