Guardiola: “Bernardo Silva? I don’t want players who don’t want to be there”

• The City coach met Joan Laporta at the Camp Nou and left the door open for the Portuguese to leave 

• Pep and the Barça president attended with Unzué the presentation of the charity friendly that the two clubs will play on August 24

Joan Laporta and Pep Guardiola presented, together with Juan Carlos Unzué , the charity friendly that Barça and Manchester City will play on August 24 to raise funds against ALS, the disease suffered by the former Barça goalkeeper and coach and another 4,000 people in Spain. 

As part of the presentation, Laporta and Guardiola joked about the presence in the friendly of Bernardo Silva , a City player whom Barça intends to sign if Frenkie de Jong ends up leaving . When presenting the game, Guardiola announced that “we will come with all the artillery” and Laporta took the opportunity to bring out the name of the Portuguese: “Will Bernardo Silva also come with all the cracks?”. And Guardiola responded quickly: “Yes, we will bring Bernardo Silva and ten more”, a response that provoked laughter from the Barça president and the 1899 auditorium. 

Already in the question time, Guardiola assured that “today I think that Bernardo Silva will continue with us, but as I have always said since my time at Barça, I don’t want players who don’t want to be. But today I think what will follow”. 

Joan Laporta did not want to talk about the Portuguese and limited himself to commenting that “work is being done to make a competitive team next season. Today it is not appropriate to talk about players, apart from making a joke about a player who has left.”  

Bernardo Silva is the midfielder that Xavi wants in case De Jong is transferred and the Barça club knows that the Portuguese has Guardiola ‘s commitment to let him out if a satisfactory offer arrives for City.