Barcelona are unlikely to complete the permanent signing of Joao Cancelo from Man City this summer as the Premier League champions continue to seek €30m for the 30-year-old.
The Portuguese star spent the 2023/24 campaign on loan with the Catalan club and won people over on the La Liga outfit’s board across the 42 games he featured in, scoring four goals and assisting a further five.
Cancelo has a contract with Man City until 2027 but is no longer wanted at the Manchester club having fallen out with Pep Guardiola during the 2022/23 campaign.
The Premier League champions want to sell the Portugal international this summer and according to Mundo Deportivo, City want €30m to part ways with Cancelo. With Barcelona still dealing with financial issues that fee will not be possible and therefore, the La Liga giants will try to negotiate another loan deal but may not even be able to pay all of the full-back’s salary.
The report states that there is also interest from Saudi Arabian clubs, who will have no issues with matching Man City’s €30m asking price. The player’s future is in the hands of his agent Jorge Mendes and will very likely be sorted in the coming days and weeks.
Cancelo is currently enjoying some time off after Euro 2024 and was not included in Manchester City’s squad for their pre-season tour of the United States. There is no way back for the Portuguese star at the Etihad Stadium, which is quite sad given how good he was for the Manchester club.
The full-back showed that he was world-class under Guardiola’s leadership and the City manager arguably turned him into the best full-back in the world during the 2021/22 campaign. The Spanish coach used Cancelo as an inverted full-back and the 30-year-old thrived in the role.
Considering this, it is sad to see the way Cancelo’s career at Man City is ending, but that is the nature of playing in a Pep Guardiola team.
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