Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez has claimed that despite the club wanting to sign Joao Cancelo in January, Manchester City did not want to do business.
With the finals of the FA Cup and Champions League coming up in the next week, Manchester City are just two wins away from completing the treble.
The Premier League champions are arguably in their best-ever shape, but it’s a far cry from the situation they found themselves in a few months ago.
The weeks following the 2022 World Cup were tumultuous for Pep Guardiola’s side, with performances poor and a number of players unhappy.
One of them was Joao Cancelo, whose attitude was so bad that Guardiola became concerned that it would negatively impact the rest of his squad.
City took the decision to offload the Portuguese full-back, sending him on loan to Bayern Munich for the remainder of the season.
The temporary move included a €70m purchase option, but the Bundesliga champions have decided not to activate that clause.
City are reportedly keen to sell Cancelo this summer, with the likes of Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal all linked.
According to German outlet AZ, the 29-year-old would prefer to play somewhere with a warmer climate than the UK.
It remains unclear whether Barcelona’s financial situation would allow them to meet City’s reported asking price of £35m.
City’s previous reluctance to deal with Barca in January could represent another hurdle.
“Joao Cancelo did not come to Barca in January simply because City did not want him to go to Barca,” Xavi told Mundo Deportivo.
“They didn’t tell me any reason, simply that it couldn’t be done because City had said no to Barca option. Ask them, Pep [Guardiola], their board.”
If City rejected Barca’s previous proposal to sign Cancelo, then that casts doubt on the Catalan club being able to meet City’s demands this summer.
