Barcelona have reportedly made Joao Cancelo their top right-back target ahead of the summer and want to sign the Manchester City defender on loan.
Cancelo has now just finished his loan spell at Bayern Munich.
He finished the season with a Bundesliga title, with the Bavarians won in dramatic fashion over Borussia Dortmund.
Bayern had the option to buy Cancelo for around £60 million. That is around what City paid to sign him from Juventus.
But they have decided not to exercise it, as it is simply far more than they are really willing to pay.
Cancelo will now head back to the Etihad. But it has been suggested that he will be departing again this summer.
Arsenal have been heavily linked recently, with Sky reporter Dharmesh Sheth saying last night that the two clubs were talk. Currently a deal is not close.
But now, SPORT bring a report about Cancelo. They say that Barcelona want to land the 29-year-old this summer. He is apparently their main choice for a new right-back.
Their plan, apparently, is to sign Cancelo on loan ahead of the 2023/24 season.
They then want to sign Brazilian right-back Vanderson, 21, permanently from AS Monaco in the summer of 2024.
This claim comes after Barca manager Xavi said recently that he tried to sign Cancelo in January.
Apparently a move was all set to come to fruition. But City then pulled the plug and the player went to Bayern.
Manchester City should not entertain Barcelona loan interest in Joao Cancelo – he needs selling
This just doesn’t work for City.
The club would not benefit at all from loaning Cancelo out this summer.
It was been widely reported the club want to sell him, which is the correct stance. Cancelo has two years left on his contract right now. If City loaned him out for a season, he’d come back to the Etihad with just one year left, and his market value would be much lower than it is now.
Barcelona clearly do not have the financial means of signing Cancelo.
But that is not City’s fault and the club should not be doing the Spanish giants any favours. In October 2022, it was reported (CCMA) that Barca were still paying City for the Ferran Torres transfer.
So there is absolutely no way City should allow Barca to sign Cancelo on loan when they could get a fee from another club.
