Bernardo Silva an option, not a priority, for Barcelona

With the news of Xavi Hernandez staying on as Barcelona manager next season, one of the immediate questions was how is he going to improve from a disappointing 2023/24 campaign.

The easiest answer was delving in the transfer market. With Barcelona's financial situation, easier said than done.

However, that didn't stop the rumor linking Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva with a possible move to the Catalan side. He's been on their radar the last couple of seasons with Silva waiting as long as he possible could last season but a deal never came to fruition.

Given the injuries to Pedri and Frenkie de Jong, a move for Silva could improve Barcelona. But adding a player like Silva, at the moment, is not a priority for the club.

As is going to be the case with a number of Barcelona transfer rumors, in order for Barcelona to contemplate splashing the cash for anyone, they'll need to move on other players first. For those who don't recall, one of the issues heading into a new season is finding enough room on the wage bill in order to register all their players.

One of the club's hopes heading into next season under the 1-1 rule where every euro earned in a transfer can be used in a hypothetical contract. Currently, Barcelona operate in a 1-4 where they could only spend one euro for every four they accumulated.

Even if they do manage to reach that objective, the priority for next season is signing a pivot. Oriol Romeu hasn't worked out and Xavi resorted to utilizing Andreas Christensen in that position. The likes of Martin Zubimendi and Joshua Kimmich are the players Xavi prefers and are likely to be the main targets now that he's sticking around.

Another roadblock for Bernardo Silva is his release clause which is reportedly set at 50 million pounds. He'll be 30 by the time next season rolls around and Barcelona are weary on committing that amount on an aging player.

If Barcelona are able to secure a holding midfielder relatively early in the offseason, and if the numbers line up, perhaps they might make a push for Silva. But, as it stands, he's not seen as a priority. He may have to repeat the same scenario as last summer where he'll need to wait for Barcelona to make the decisive move.