Barcelona report: New La Liga financial rules mean Barça renew interest in Bernardo Silva
Barcelona attempted to sign the Manchester City star in the summer – and now their bid is back on
Barcelona will attempt to pry Bernardo Silva away from Manchester City again January after La Liga raised the club's salary cap.
Barça's precarious financial situation has led to a much tighter salary cap in recent years – resulting in the departure of Lionel Messi last summer, and struggles to register new signings.
But the side's use of 'economic levers' over recent months, selling a number of their non-playing assets, has boosted their finances. Now La Liga, which sets a salary cap for all Spanish teams based on their incomes, has drastically increased the amount Barcelona can spend on player contracts.
Los Cules' spending cap is now €656.5m, meaning that they are likely to be back in the market for new players in January.
Top of their list, according to Spanish paper Sport, is Manchester City's Bernardo Silva, who was heavily linked with a move to Barcelona this summer.
The Portuguese star, 28, has three years left on his contract in Manchester, but Pep Guardiola has accepted that he will not try and keep any players who wish to leave.
Silva has made over 250 appearances for City since joining for £43.5m from Monaco in 2017, netting 50 times and lifting the Premier League trophy on four occasions.
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Were he to move to Catalonia, he would join a number of new recruits: under manager Xavi, Barcelona have recently signed Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie, Hector Bellerin, Andreas Christensen and Jules Kounde.
Conor Pope is the former Online Editor of FourFourTwo, overseeing all digital content. He plays football regularly, and has a large, discerning and ever-growing collection of football shirts from around the world.
He supports Blackburn Rovers and holds a season ticket with south London non-league side Dulwich Hamlet. His main football passions include Tugay, the San Siro and only using a winter ball when it snows.