FC Barcelona are in final talks with Manchester City over a permanent transfer of the right-back Joao Cancelo, reported Sport Italia journalist Gianluigi Longari on Saturday.
Everything is sorted out between the two clubs, the only thing that stands in their way is the margin of Financial Fair Play (FFP) on the Catalan club's end.
Barcelona's latest offer for the 29-year-old which includes a loan deal with a purchase option for €30 million is said to have satisfied the City's board.
The 29-year-old is the first choice of Barcelona’s head coach Xavi Hernandez who does not have a natural right-back in his squad and is forced to play Jules Kounde or Ronald Araujo — two natural centre-backs — at that position.
Man City head coach Pep Guardiola also addressed Cancelo's situation in a pre-match conference on Friday (August 18).
“João Cancelo is still with us for now, but I don’t know what’s going to happen. I just don’t know,” said Pep.
The Portuguese has not played a single game for the treble winners as he was left out of the squad for their three official games.
It must be noted that Cancelo was signed for €65 million from Juventus and was one of the most-wanted players by Guardiola.
But, due to a constant lack of playing time, he once had a training ground bust-up with the manager after learning that he is not part of the starting XI for City’s FA Cup match against Arsenal in January.
The incident was not tolerated neither by Guardiola nor by City’s board and the footballer was immediately put on the market, after which he joined Bayern Munich and returned to the treble winners six months later.
He played 21 games for the Bavarian club and played his part in helping them win their 11th straight Bundesliga title.
With Cancelo’s signing, Barcelona will have a great pair of full-backs with Alejandro Balde linking up with Ferran Torres on the left flank and the Portuguese linking up with Raphinha on the right.
And with Robert Lewandowski in the centre and midfield occupied by Frenkie de Jong, Ilkay Gundogan, and Pedri, it would not be wrong to say that Barcelona will go all in to compete for the league title as well as the Champions League.
