Manchester City’s Silva Apparently ‘Offered’ to Barca, Claims Media

Another day, another story that City are trying to offload midfielder Bernardo Silva, despite saying that the Portuguese star will not be leaving the club.

The story comes from the Daily Mail (make of that what you will), who claim City have offered Silva to Barcelona and want £67m for the star in order to fund a deal for Lyon star Lucas Paqueta.

The Brazilian, who is probably the only player not to be linked with a switch to Manchester over the summer, is an attacking midfielder and, despite City recouping more than £150m in transfer fees, City need the money from the sale of Silva to secure his signature.

Of course, the ‘story’ has about as many legs as a snake as the Mail hasn’t linked to any specific article on the proposal. Instead, they have twice linked to the L’Equipe homepage, and a quick tour of their site reveals no such information about Silva or Paqueta.

“But now it seems the blue-half of Manchester has had a change of heart and they could be set to cash-in on the 27-year-old,” claims the Mail, again without evidence, before the article focuses on Barca and their money issues despite spending £150m on transfers. And they wonder why they have a nickname of the Daily Fail.

I can’t help but wonder why they have chosen today to run this non-story. It’s not like we have a big game at the weekend or anything...