Barcelona president Joan Laporta has ruled out spending a large transfer fee to sign unsettled Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva.

Silva has been one of City’s most important players during a concentrated period of success since a £43.5m move from Monaco in 2017.

During that time, the Portuguese has won four Premier League titles and five domestic cups in five and a half seasons. He was also named City’s player of the year for 2018/19 and has twice been in the PFA Premier League team of the year – most recently last season.

But Silva, now 28, has been reconsidering his City future since 2020. The former Benfica talent first became unsettled during the first UK Covid-19 lockdown, admitting he felt ‘alone’. Despite success on the pitch, it seems he has never quite managed to shake his uneasiness off it.