Joao Cancelo remains a Manchester City player, but has been hoping to seal another move to Barcelona.
The full-back has not played competitively for Manchester City since midway through the 2022/23 season.
It was around that time Cancelo reportedly fell out with Pep Guardiola over what he perceived as a lack of game time.
He was loaned out to Bayern Munich for the rest of the season. Then last term, he went to Barcelona – a club he now wants to rejoin.
But it is starting to feel like Cancelo may not get the move he so desperately wants. There have been suggestions Barca have reservations due to his high wage demands and also some behaviours he showed last season that rubbed some people up the wrong way.
Now, Barca have done something which could be seen as significant.
Man City full-back Joao Cancelo now finally removed from Barcelona website
It has been reported today by Mundo Deportivo, a publication that is very much across everything Barcelona do, that Cancelo is no longer appearing on the club’s website.
Cancelo’s loan spell obviously ended at the end of June.
But despite that, Barcelona had left both him and Joao Felix visible on their official website. The reason for this was seemingly that they had hoped to re-sign both players. According to Mundo, Barca were congratulating ‘the Joaos’ each time Portugal played at the Euros, acting as though the duo were still their players.
Barca will definitely not be re-signing Joao Felix, who is joining Chelsea.
And potentially, they may now not be signing Cancelo.
New signing Dani Olmo has been added to the first-team players page, despite not yet being registered.
Cancelo has been back at City ahead of the 2024/25 season, but was not selected for the Community Shield against Manchester United or the opening Premier League game against Chelsea.
Earlier this afternoon, the player posted on Instagram, uploading a couple of photos of himself seemingly on vacation. it is unclear whether he is away right now, or if this was earlier in the summer. He wrote the caption ‘I’m the only one that knows who I am’.
That may well be Cancelo referencing the recent claims about his behaviour at Barca last season.
Cancelo to Barca in doubt?
Between Barcelona removing Cancelo from their website, and that report earlier about the club having reservations about signing the player, it does now feel as though this move is becoming doubtful.
It has also been suggested that Al-Hilal are interested in snapping up the 30-year-old.
One wonders if City will now attempt to sell Cancelo to the Saudi club, as they are much more likely to be able to afford him permanently.
But it is going to depend on the player.
Perhaps if Cancelo knows that Barcelona don’t want him back, or aren’t in a position to re-sign him, then he will consider that Saudi move. It has also been suggested this summer that Juventus might be interested in their former player.
