Barça is closer to being able to close the arrival of the right-back João Cancelo from Manchester City to cover the always pending right-back. It’s the second time they’ve tried it. The first could not be. In fact, there was not even a negotiation. Yes, an exchange of unfriendly statements between Xavi and Guardiola that seems to be history.
It all started in January when, in the middle of a sports planning meeting of the Barça sports leadership, Jorge Mendes called the football director Mateu Alemany. The famous representative told him that Manchester City did not have Cancelo. He surprised the call since during the first section of 22-23, Cancelo had become one of the fundamental pieces of Guardiola’s scheme. However, a series of discussions followed by three consecutive substitutions ended up clouding a relationship between player and coach that in Manchester they classify as “irreparable”.
“Are you interested?” Mendes asked Alemany in January. Xavi Hernández, present at the meeting, did not hesitate to say yes. But they ended up rejecting the operation. There was not enough salary margin. Not even for a loan. Even so, Barcelona could not even try. Mendes called again, according to sources from the Barcelona club, to communicate that City was not in the business of negotiating with Barça. “They offered it to us and we accepted it. In the end they told us that City did not want to give him up to Barça”, explained Xavi.
What happened with Cancelo opened a Pandora’s box between Guardiola and Xavi, two technicians who had always maintained a good relationship. “I’m afraid Xavi hasn’t been well informed. We haven’t even received an offer from Barcelona for Cancelo”, responded the Santpedor coach at the golf tournament that he sponsors every year in Catalonia.
City ended up negotiating with Bayern Munich, which signed the player on loan until June 30, 2023 with a purchase option of 70 million euros. The Bavarian team wanted to execute it. But finally they allocated that amount to sign Harry Kane. “We’ll see what happens. He has returned from his loan to Bayern, he is here and he is part of the group, ”Guardiola said of the footballer during the preseason in Japan.
The relationship between coach and footballer is still not fluid. And Cancelo wants to wear the Barcelona shirt. This time, Jorge Mendes has been in charge of leading an operation that is advancing slowly and that he hopes to resolve next week so that Cancelo can arrive in Barcelona on loan with a purchase option at the end of the course.
The player, aware of the limitations that Barça has to register players due to his problems with financial fair play, is willing to lower his salary to reach a team in which he knows he will be essential. The problem lies in the purchase option. The club, which also wants to have Cancelo beyond one course, wants to make sure it gets an affordable purchase option to cover one of the most needy places in the squad. Next week may be final.