According to Barcelona sporting director, Deco, Real Madrid summer arrival Bernardo Silva wanted to join Barcelona before he moved to the Spanish capital.
In the transfer window just gone, midfielder Bernardo Silva became one of six summer signings made by Real Madrid, joining on a free transfer after his Manchester City contract expired following nine years in the North West of England.
A lot of people felt like Silva is more of a Barcelona coded player, in terms of his style of play, the way he sees the game. Basically in a similar way to how nobody was too surprised when his former City team mate Rodri joined Hansi Flick’s side. Plus the fact they have a Portuguese sporting director in Deco.
Well, ironically, it is Deco himself who has claimed that the 32 year old wanted to join Barcelona: Speaking to RAC1 (via BarcaTimes), he said: “It wasn’t the position we were looking for. I love him, he’s one of the best in the world in his role. He wanted to come to Barça, but it didn’t happen because we have our own parameters. It was an economic issue and about playing [regular] minutes.
He wanted to play [start] but I prefer our own players.” Interesting comments from Deco As cynical as it may sound, it might not necessarily be true. It is not unheard of to lie or at the very least exaggerate the truth in these scenarios. But, if it is true, it sort of checks out with the above logic regarding fit, style and so on and so forth.
What is even more interesting is how much of a role Silva plays at Real Madrid this season. He has started twice and come off the bench twice in the opening four La Liga games of the season, and then was suspended (ironically because of a red card against Real Madrid) for the UEFA Champions League win over Inter Milan on Tuesday.
Aurelien Tchouameni made his return from injury to play the final 11 minutes plus stoppage time against Inter, so that’s another thing to take into consideration. Could we see Jose Mourinho opt with the Frenchman and sparring partner Federico Valverde as his double pivot? El Larguero are reporting (via MadridXtra) that will be the midfield two in the big games, so let’s wait and see.
At 32, you are not expecting him to play every minute of every game in any case, and with the amount of games that are played these days, there are plenty of minutes to go around for everyone you would have thought. Certainly a better headache to have than playing Trent Alexander-Arnold in the midfield, which has never been a good idea.
