Barcelona are “in advanced talks” to snap up Manchester City fullback Joao Cancelo, according to CaughtOffside.com.
The Portuguese international spent last season on loan at Barca, but the agreement did not include an option to buy.
It is believed another loan deal is being worked on, but this one will have a mandatory clause, which means he will complete a permanent move to the Camp Nou next summer.
However, CaughtOffside report that the fee is not particularly high, with Barcelona set to pay only €18m (£15.3m). Consequently, City will be taking a big hit on the £60m they paid Juventus for the player five years ago.
Why are City prepared to sell for such a low fee?
Ever since Cancelo moved to Barca last year, he has not been shy in stating that he wanted to make the switch to Spain permanent. It meant that trying to sell him for a higher price to a team in another country (such as Saudi Arabia) was going to be difficult.
Another factor to consider is that the Cityzens were reluctant to let him go to another Premier League team. Both Arsenal and Chelsea have been linked with Cancelo in the past. Those two sides would likely have tabled bigger bids but allowing him to go to a division rival has its own pitfalls (as we have seen with Cole Palmer).
Cancelo is not part of Guardiola’s first-team plans
As supporters would have noticed, the 30-year-old has not featured in any of City’s pre-season fixtures. Manager Pep Guardiola effectively washed his hands of the player when he originally left to join Bayern Munich on loan in January 2023.
With Cancelo having made it clear that his future lies away from the Etihad, reintegrating him into the first-team squad was never a realistic option.
