According to Spanish media, Manchester City and Barcelona have verbally agreed on a transfer.
The two teams have done a lot of business in recent years, with Pep Guardiola’s Treble-winning captain, Ilkay Gundogan, being the most notable recent example. After his contract with Manchester City expired, the German moved to Catalonia on a free transfer.
However, Barcelona have recently signed Eric Garcia and Ferran Torres, and the tables are beginning to turn as current manager Xavi aims to emulate mentor Guardiola with a team capable of reproducing City’s strong positional play.
According to El Chiringuito TV in Spain, through TeamTALK, Barça have agreed to a €35 million transfer for Joao Cancelo, who is presently on loan at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.
The Portuguese has made an immediate impact at Barcelona, scoring two goals in his first five games from a right-back position he’s more accustomed with his periods at Juventus, Inter Milan, and Valencia – after previously playing as an inverted left-back at the Etihad Stadium.
Cancelo broke out with Guardiola last season and was abruptly loaned out to Bayern Munich during the Citizens’ Treble bid in January. When the two titans were drawn in the Champions League quarter-finals, the 29-year-old returned to Manchester with the Bavarians. Cancelo was booed by City fans upon his return to the Etihad.
A sum of around £30 million would imply that City would have lost roughly half of what they paid Juventus for Cancelo in 2019, making him the most expensive right-back of all time, a record later broken by Achraf Hakimi. However, City’s sale of Brazilian defender Danilo to Juventus in the opposite way that summer recouped about €37 million.
According to sources, Barcelona’s solid relationship with Manchester City has undoubtedly helped to reduce the fee for Cancelo. The La Liga winners are still in financial trouble and have Cancelo’s international teammate Joao Felix on loan with the hope of signing a permanent transfer with Atletico Madrid next summer.
Transfermarkt values Cancelo at €50 million.
Leave a Reply