Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva has become entangled in an election battle at Portuguese giants Benfica, with a potential club president claiming a "contract is waiting" for the midfielder -- while manager Bruno Lage believes he will "soon" return to his former club.
Silva, 31, was named City captain by Pep Guardiola in the summer but is into the final year of his contract.
João Noronha Lopes, a candidate to become Benfica's club president in the elections on Oct. 25, told Portuguese outlet A Bola that he wants to sign Silva, who came through Benfica's youth setup before joining Monaco in 2015, and then City two years later.
"I can confirm that a contract is waiting for Bernardo Silva," Noronha Lopes said. "And I really want to bring Bernardo in in January. He embodies everything I want for Benfica, identity, a winning culture, and he's a huge Benfica fan. And I can assure you that we won't stop here."
At a news conference, Benfica boss Lage said he didn't want "to get into the political side of the issue," but still talked up the prospect of Silva joining.
"From what I know about Bernardo and his motivation is that soon, I don't know when, but soon, he will be a Benfica player regardless of the president," he said.
Silva has made 269 league appearances for City, scoring 43 goals, and has earned over 100 caps for Portugal.
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He isn't the only household Premier League name to be brought up by a potential Benfica president, with Cristóvão Carvalho making the case for former Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp to be appointed should he be elected.
Carvalho told SIC Noticas: "I need a coach of the highest level, who has already won the Champions League and who wants to win a Champions League with Benfica. There's only one name that comes to mind: Jürgen Klopp."
The other presidential candidates are João Diogo Manteigas, Luís Filipe Vieira, Martim Borges Coutinho Mayer, Paulo Parreira and current president Rui Costa.