Manchester City full-back Joao Cancelo is close to joining FC Barcelona on a loan deal with an option to buy, reported Spanish newspaper Sport on Wednesday.
The Portuguese full-back is set to arrive in Barcelona on Thursday (August 24) and may make his debut against Osasuna on Sunday (September 3).
Cancelo will become a Barca player but the negotiations between the two clubs have not concluded yet with some details still missing.
Barcelona's latest offer for the 29-year-old which includes a loan deal with a purchase option for €25 million is said to have satisfied the City's board.
However, a local journalist says that the purchase option would be conditioned on Barca reaching the UEFA Champions League's Round of 16.
The Catalan club have no plans to stop as they will go after Joao Felix once Cancelo officially becomes a Barca player.
Barca want to sign the 23-year-old on a season-long deal as they are in need of an attacker who can score goals while also creating opportunities for other players on the pitch.
With the departure of Ousmane Dembele to Paris Saint Germain, the arrival of the Portuguese seems inevitable.
Felix's arrival at the Blaugrana depends more on the departure of either Ansu Fati or Abde Ezzalzouli, with the former seeming more likely to part ways with Barca as he is no longer part of the starting XI.
Felix to Barca is complicated as Barcelona’s president Joan Laporta and head coach Xavi Hernandez are not on the same page.
While Laporta has publicly stated that he wants to bring the footballer, Xavi is against the signing.
Xavi acknowledges Felix’s attacking qualities but he does not like his defensive work-rate.
Xavi wants his team to defend with all the players in transition and that is one of the reasons why Fati often fails to make it to the starting XI because he is not that active defensively.
However, as there are not many options available to sign, it seems that Xavi will have to settle for the Portuguese.
