(Football news) The pipe dream of all transfer pipe dreams is supposedly on its way out, at least for this year. Manchester City star Bernardo Silva is reportedly close to signing a contract extension with the club that will keep him in England until 2025.

This follows rumours that Silva had requested Pep and City to help him transfer out of England if the right offer came up. As you could think, the appropriate offer for a player like Silva has to be fairly good. After all, he did win the treble last season.

That offer is unlikely to come from Barcelona, where Silva was supposedly interested in relocating, so for the time being, Silva will stockpile cash and trophies and fight it out with Pep in Manchester 

Silva is president Joan Laporta and head coach Xavi Hernandez’s number one ambition in the presently open summer window, as shown last summer when the Blaugrana couldn’t raise the means to buy him after pulling a series of ‘economic levers’.

Barcelona had devised a proposal for the midfielder for €65 million ($71.7 million) in fixed money plus €10 million ($11 million) in variables on Friday. This happened after Paris Saint-Germain’s €80 million ($87.8 million) bid for the Portuguese was rejected, while it was believed that strained relations between Qatar and Abu Dhabi may have influenced the decision. 

The Catalans then made a joint bid for Silva and Joao Cancelo on Sunday, after Fabrizio Romano stated that they had negotiated personal terms with the Catalans, which would involve them taking the compatriots on loan with an obligation to buy.

There was no word on how much money will be paid for Cancelo. In Silva’s case, though, Barcelona stated they would pay €70 million ($77.1 million) for the 29-year-old at the end of the upcoming season, when he would have less than a year left on his deal with the Premier League giants.

However, after losing on penalties to Arsenal in the Community Shield, City apparently submitted a response to Barcelona. In summary, they will not negotiate Silva’s exit until he has explicitly stated his want to leave.

“I don’t want any players who don’t want to be here. I want to work with guys who want to stay,” Guardiola said ahead of the Community Shield clash at Wembley.

“But we need a proper offer, we didn’t… If they want him, they’ll get on a plane and speak to our sporting director…,” he trailed off.

Laporta, together with his lead directors Deco and Mateu Alemany, must now put their money where their mouth is and invest as much cash as possible from the projected sales of Ousmane Dembele and Franck Kessie to secure Silva.

Also read: West Ham ready to bid £60M for duo