Fabrizio Romano broke the news last week that Bayern Munich won’t trigger their €70m option to buy in Joao Cancelo’s contract, with Florian Plettenberg of Sky Sport Germany confirming the update.
But Cancelo is also unlikely to return to Manchester City, with Romano adding that City are “ready to sell” the full-back this summer.
Romano claims Arsenal appreciate the defender, and he’s one of the names on their summer shortlist. But Barcelona also have a genuine interest, and they’ve followed him since January.
In Barcelona’s case, the primary obstacle is FFP, as with many of their potential signings this summer.
Expanding on the topic on his YouTube channel, Romano explained that Barcelona are also focused on Lionel Messi’s return at the moment.
As for Arsenal, it remains to be seen how Manchester City will approach negotiations after the Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus deals of last summer.
Talks seemed to go smoothly last year, but in retrospect, both deals looked like bargains for Arsenal as they propelled the Gunners into contention with City for the Premier League title.
Whether City will be willing to do another similar deal for a reasonable price is unclear.
The Telegraph previously claimed that though Arsenal are keen on Cancelo this summer, they fear City may not be willing to sell to them again.
The Gunners are looking to strengthen in the left-back position, but Cancelo is still under contract at City until 2027.
His alleged fall-out with Pep Guardiola in January makes it hard to see them hanging onto him, yet City could still look to sell him elsewhere.
Still, the Evening Standard write that in the current economic climate, City may have to accept that the Premier League remains the best market for selling.
All of City’s major sales last summer were within the Premier League, selling Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal and Raheem Sterling to Chelsea.
However, all of that assumes that Cancelo wants to return to England and the latest reports claim that he does not, neither with City nor Arsenal.
João Cancelo does not see his future at FC Bayern – a return to Munich is very unlikely. The Portuguese doesn’t want to play in England anymore, neither at City nor Arsenal [@_kochmaximilian] pic.twitter.com/YMiK1ST2qw
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) June 1, 2023
Cancelo scored three goals and assisted 10 in 47 appearances this season, the same goal contribution tallies that he hit in the previous campaign with City in the Premier League.
