Manchester City are in a bit of a tricky position with Joao Cancelo.
The full-back has just finished a season on loan at Barcelona, having spent the second half of 2022/23 with Bayern Munich.
Cancelo‘s future at City is in severe doubt, after he reportedly fell out with Pep Guardiola midway through the Treble-winning season over game time.
The Portugal international – who is currently with the national team at Euro 2024 – is said to have felt like he should have been playing more than the likes of Rico Lewis and Nathan Ake.
But the player blasted those claims as ‘lies’.
Over the past few months, there has been talk of Cancelo joining Barcelona permanently. But the situation is complicated, and a report has now shared three conditions City have if the deal is to happen.
Manchester City have three conditions to let Joao Cancelo join Barcelona
In an ideal world, Cancelo would be sold this summer. In an ideal world, the full-back would actually have been sold last summer.
But the issue is that Barcelona – who are the player’s top choice – cannot afford to sign him at the current £25 million asking price.
The Spanish giants’ financial issues are well documented, and they face difficulties these days when it comes to bringing in new faces.
They really want Cancelo, but they can’t offer a permanent transfer fee.
The Sun have claimed this morning that City actually have a few conditions they want Barca to meet if they are to send the player back to Barcelona this summer. They are as follows:
- Barcelona pay a fee to have him for another season
- Meet his wages in full (currently, they are around £180,000 per week, but the player is willing to reduce)
- Barcelona commit to buying him next summer
It is stated that Cancelo could yet join City’s pre-season tour of America next month if nothing is agreed with Barca in the coming weeks.
In 2023/24, Cancelo made 42 appearances for Barcelona, featuring as both a left and right-back. He impressed with his attacking quality, scoring four and making five assists.
But he did leave a lot to be desired with his defending again. After his display against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-final second leg, Thierry Henry was left baffled after Cancelo had conceded a penalty.
City must ensure obligation to buy if it’s another loan
This situation is frustrating – because Barca are Cancelo’s priority and they don’t have the money to do a permanent deal this summer.
So it is looking like it could be another loan move for the 30-year-old.
Hopefully, City will indeed agree on that obligation to buy next summer, because then they can rest assured that money will be coming in.
It remains to be seen if the two clubs can reach an agreement on that. But then, of course, City would want a loan fee for the 2024/25 season.
Certainly, this is far from straightforward so it could well take a lot of the summer to sort out.