Paris Saint-Germain have a concrete interest in the potential transfer of Manchester City attacking midfielder Bernardo Silva.
The Portugal international perfectly fits the profile of what PSG are after in this summer’s transfer window, but player sales may be required first, according to French football expert Jonathan Johnson in his exclusive CaughtOffside column.
City surely won’t want to let a key player like this go, but Johnson has also suggested that it may be that players like Silva will now be weighing up new challenges after achieving all they can at the Etihad Stadium following their treble triumph in 2022/23.
Bernardo also has connections with Luis Campos at PSG, having been signed for him in his previous stint in Ligue 1 with Monaco.
It will be interesting to see how this develops, but one tricky issue for PSG is the cost, with Johnson naming Marco Verratti as someone who could potentially be sold to help fund this important signing.
“Bernardo Silva is another interesting one – there’s the Luis Campos connection there, as they were together at Monaco,” Johnson explained.
“If PSG want to revamp their attack, adding a quality player like Silva seems like a no-brainer. He’s at an interesting point in his career as well, because a number of Manchester City players, now that the treble has been won, might turn their eyes towards a new challenge elsewhere.
“Similarly, we’ve also seen Ilkay Gundogan linked with PSG, so I think Silva, based on the success he had in France in the past, seems a logical target to look at bringing in.
“The question, unlike with free agents Zaha and Thuram, would be financing the move, because Silva would likely be a significant financial outlay, both in terms of a transfer fee and his wages, even if they’re not quite in the same league as the likes of Messi and Neymar.
“It’s a deal that would require PSG to get a bit creative in terms of raising money elsewhere, and we’ve seen them open the door to Marco Verratti moving on. We know a goalkeeper of Gianluigi Donnarumma’s quality would also have plenty of suitors if he were ever to be on the market, so I think these are the kinds of factors that could come into play.
“PSG are definitely interested in Silva’s profile, someone of that kind of mould who can change their style of play for the better. The front three have been the obvious focal point in the last couple of years, but Silva could give them something different in terms of linking the midfield and attack, so that’s something worth looking at, especially as, if you’re losing both Messi and Neymar you’re looking at a loss of potentially 15-30 assisted goals over the course of the season – that’s a big gap that would need to be filled, so it’s no surprise that Campos is looking at this one, a player he’s had plenty of success with in the past.”