Barcelona tried to offload Ousmane Dembele and Martin Braithwaite over the summer and ‘asked’ Manchester City for Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling, says Spanish outlet Sport. The Catalans giants are in financial difficulty and needed to strengthen their team while lowing their expenditure.
Barca paid £135.5m to sign Dembele in 2017 and paid the 24-year-old £10.9m-a-year in wages. They stood little chance of getting their money back through his sale, but he could be used as a makeweight to sign a replacement. That was also the thinking with Braithwaite, but City didn’t budge.