Bernardo Silva, still Barca's big summer dream

It's not going to be an easy market for Barça because last summer's 'fiesta' with signings is impossible to replicate now, due to a lack of resources and the scrutiny that La Liga are doing to the club with the salary limit issue. 

The objectives of the sporting directors continue to be ambitious, but also planning with several departures in mind to give breathing room to the finances and with the incorporation of several free players that do not involve an excessive investment after almost 200 million spent just a year ago. There are many unknowns and some certainties, such as the fact that the team needs the arrival of an international star to accompany Lewandowski and the youngsters to provide competitiveness. A player who can make the difference, who can bring poise, finishing and solvency to make the definitive leap forward in European football. 

Against Manchester United there were injuries and suspensions, but the team once again showed a worrying weakness and a lack of leaders that ended up condemning them in the tie at Old Trafford.

The diagnosis is clear and Xavi Hernández is the first to know that the squad must offer more resources. And that is not won with young talent, which is also the case, but with a player who has been proving his worth in the Champions League for years. There are many players who have been offered and others who are on the watch list, but perhaps the one who generates the most consensus is Bernardo Silva. Because his game can adapt to all of Barca's systems and because he is a great player who would raise the level of the team.

Bernardo Silva's situation is clear: he wants to leave City, the English club will respect his decision after June, he would love to wear the Blaugrana shirt - it's all nice, but it clashes with the almost zero room for manoeuvre that, a priori, the blaugrana club will have to deal with in the new transfer market.

On extreme occasions, Laporta and his board of directors have been able to find unlikely solutions to strengthen the team. Nobody thought they were going to sign Ferran Torres. And they succeeded. Nor Aubameyang. Nor Lewandowski. It is true that last summer the levers opened a lot of doors but now a signing like that could only be undertaken if City and the player made it easy, and if there were transfers or departures of players with high fees. Barça are aware of the difficulty, but nobody here is ruling anything out. And bringing in Bernardo Silva would mean gambling almost everything on a single card. In a few months the final decision will be known.