Manchester City are said to have turned down a swap deal involving Bernardo Silva for Saul Niguez, before the midfielder’s Deadline Day move to Chelsea.
In a frantic final few hours before the deadline, the Blues managed to secure the loan signing of the Atletico Madrid midfielder, with the move further bolstering what is already a scarily talented squad at Thomas Tuchel’s disposal.
The Spaniard will now compete for a midfield starting berth alongside N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho, having fallen out of favour under Diego Simeone, with that fearsome quartet arguably the best midfield unit in the Premier League.
The 26-year-old had also been linked with a move to Manchester United in recent months, yet opted to make the switch to Stamford Bridge, despite also having been offered to Manchester City.
As per the Star, Pep Guardiola was offered the chance to sign the versatle midfielder, yet turned down a proposal that would have seen Bernardo Silva head in the other direction.
The report suggests that Atletico had offered Saul, plus cash, in order to try and secure the services of City’s Portuguese playmaker, with the move to Chelsea only coming about after that deal had been rejected by Guardiola and co.
The former Barcelona boss had previously admitted that Silva was one of a handful of players who wanted to leave the club over the summer, having seen his game time restricted in recent seasons and with the club splashing out a British transfer record fee of £100m on Aston Villa skipper Jack Grealish to further increase competition.
Despite his desire to exit the Etihad, City were only willing to let the former Monaco man go if they received an offer in the region of £40m, while Guardiola is also said to have not been interested in adding Saul to his squad.
