Pep Guardiola has fueled this Friday Barça’s dream of signing Bernardo Silva, a “very important” player for Manchester City. The Catalan coach invited the Blaugrana club to take a plane to England and try to reach an agreement with the sports director, Txiki Begiristain, and the club’s CEO, Ferran Soriano.
“I know the information from Barcelona. I have always said that I do not want any player who does not want to be here, but I am an employee. It is my opinion. After this we must have an offer and we do not have an offer. This is what I can In other words, he is our player and I want him with us”, said the Portuguese coach, whose high transfer price is currently prohibitive for Barça’s delicate coffers.
“If they want it, they should take a plane, come here, talk to our sports director and the CEO and the three parties reach an agreement. Not because I want him not to leave, he’s finished,” explained the man from Santpedor at the conference Press prior to the Community Shield match against Arsenal.
Guardiola, also asked about the possible departure of Kyle Walker, assured that they want to keep both the Englishman and the Portuguese “yes, yes or yes” and will do “everything possible” to keep them on the team. “It’s not like Gundogan that his contract was up. We’ve lost Riyad (Mahrez) and Gundogan and losing Kyle or Bernardo would be very difficult,” added the coach, who even spoke of trying to renew their contract.
“When we go anywhere for a player, it is 10 or 15 million more expensive because it is Manchester City. When the rest want an important player for us, they have to make an offer and we will fight to keep him,” warned Guardiola, who However, he insisted that he is not in favor of going against the will of any player on his squad.
“When you win the treble it seems that the job is done. And there are players over 30 like Kyle (Walker), Ilkay (Gündogan) and Riyad (Mahrez) who say ‘ok, I want a new experience’. I will not be the one to tell them no. But there has to be a good agreement for the club and the club is not me”, he reflected.
“In the cases of Kyle (Walker) and Bernardo (Silva) we have talked for years about how important they are for the team and we will do it until the end. I don’t know what will happen. Maybe the two clubs do not reach an agreement because they are very, very important players”, insisted Guardiola, in addition to warning the English entity of how expensive and difficult it would be to find substitutes for both players: “When we lose this type of player we have to go to the market to sign a replacement. This type of players cost more than 20, 30 and 40 million. We would have to reinvest that money to be as strong as possible and defend our crown.”
On the other hand, Guardiola revealed that the defender Joško Gvardiol has passed the medical examination in Manchester this Friday, but that his signing for City is not yet complete. The Catalan also celebrated Juanma Lillo’s return to the team as his assistant. “You have to find close people for these bad times. In good times, I don’t need anyone,” he said of the Spanish coach.
