Barcelona president Joan Laporta has said that Manchester City loanee Joao Cancelo has been playing at a ‘high level’ and has confirmed the club will be opening negotiations for a permanent transfer soon.
Cancelo joined Barca on transfer deadline day in the summer, having fallen by the wayside at the Etihad Stadium.
Cancelo reportedly fell out with Pep Guardiola back in January over a lack of game time.
He was sent on loan to Bayern Munich for the second half of 2022/23.
Cancelo returned to City but it was clear there was still an issue. While he featured a couple of times in pre-season, Pep did not include him in any of his matchday squads once the season had started.
Cancelo then joined Barcelona after a bit of chaos, and he’s certainly impressed their president…
Joan Laporta says Barcelona will open negotiations with Manchester City for permanent Joao Cancelo deal soon
Cancelo has been heavily involved for Barca so far in 2023/24, starting every game barring Osasuna when he made his debut off the bench.
He’s scored three goals for the club so far and chipped in with a couple of assists.
It was been reported regularly that the intention for Barca will be to sign Cancelo permanently at the end of the season.
Now, Laporta has confirmed this intention, saying negotiations with City will be starting fairly soon. He said (as quoted by 90min): “Cancelo and Felix have been playing on a high level since they joined. The club will be able to keep them for the coming seasons.
“We plan to start negotiations for them shortly, and we have good relations with both Man City and Atleti.”
This follows the club’s sporting director Deco suggesting around a month ago that Barca would be moving for Cancelo.
When Cancelo joined Barcelona, it was thought there was initially an option to buy for the Spanish giants.
Reports then surfaced about some more financial issues for Barca, and City apparently removed this clause to allow them to sign him.
City mustn’t roll over in Cancelo negotiations
So Barca and City will soon negotiate over Cancelo, and it’s important that City do not do them any favours here.
There may be good relations between the two clubs, but ultimately Cancelo is still a top player with a high market value and a fairly long contract.
The £250,000-a-week man may not have a future at the Etihad, and so there will probably be some compromise from City to get him out the door permanently, but the club shouldn’t be willing to take too big of a hit on him.
Barcelona’s financial problems have been well documented in recent times, and in October 2023, Goal reported that Barca actually still owed City £11 million for the Ferran Torres transfer, which went through in January 2022.
