Barcelona are ‘hopeful’ of signing highly-rated Manchester City full-back Joao Cancelo on loan this summer, according to reports.
The 28-year-old, who joined Bayern Munich on loan in January in a shock move, seems to be out of favour with Pep Guardiola, despite being a world-class player on his day.
The German giants have the option to sign Cancelo permanently for approximately £61m, but are reportedly unwilling to match that fee, leaving his future in doubt.
There had been accusations of a fallout between Cancelo and Guardiola before he departed in January, but the defender insisted that he simply wanted to play more matches.
“I’ve not had much game time in the past few weeks, which influenced my decision,” Cancelo said.
“There was speculation that my relationship with Pep was not the best, but the fact is I wanted to play more.”
So far, Cancelo has featured 11 times for Bayern, scoring one goal and making four assists in the process.
Ironically, he could be set to play Man City in the Champions League quarter-final, with UEFA placing no restrictions on players facing their parent clubs.
Guardiola will no doubt live to regret the decision to let him leave if he makes the difference in that tie, so it will be interesting to see if Thomas Tuchel selects Cancelo in his starting XI on Tuesday.
While the dynamic full-back remains a key player at the Allianz Arena for now, it seems unlikely that his stay will be made permanent, opening the door for Barcelona to bring him in this summer.
However, given the Catalan’s ongoing financial issues, they would be unable to meet his £61m price tag, hence why Xavi and co. want to bring him in on loan.
This is according to Spanish outlet SPORT, who claim that Barcelona are ‘determined’ to sign a new right-back this summer and see Cancelo as a ‘genuine’ option.
Xavi does not currently have a natural right-back at his disposal, with the likes of Ronald Araujo, Sergi Roberto and Jules Kounde all being forced to play out of position in that area this season.
As a result, Cancelo could prove to be a fantastic signing for the La Liga league leaders.
Since joining Man City from Juventus in 2019, the Portuguese international has made 154 appearances under Guardiola, scoring nine goals and registering 22 assists overall.
While he is no longer in the manager’s plans, Cancelo’s current deal at the Etihad is valid until 2027, so the Cityzens would no doubt prefer to sell him now while his price…
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