Barcelona have today made an announcement about Joao Cancelo.
The 30-year-old full-back has just spent a season on loan with the Spanish giants, after he was not integrated back into the first-team squad at Manchester City.
Midway through the 2022/23 season, Cancelo reportedly fell out with Pep Guardiola over the game time he was getting.
He was subsequently sent to Bayern Munich on loan for the remainder of the campaign.
Barcelona then signed him ahead of 2023/24, and Cancelo was an important player for them, making 42 appearances.
Fans are very intrigued to see what will happen with him this summer, and today Barcelona made an announcement about the player, before actually deleting it.
Barcelona announced Joao Cancelo is heading back to Manchester City, at least for now
Today, Barcelona announced that Cancelo is officially no longer their loan player and will head back to Manchester City.
The player is currently on international duty with Portugal at Euro 2024.
But once that’s over with, he will return to City, potentially after a vacation first.
This was just an obligatory announcement because the player’s loan spell is over, and does not necessarily mean that Cancelo won’t ultimately be heading back to Barcelona.
As we know, they are very keen to re-sign him for next season.
It is just complicated because of Barcelona’s financial difficulties, and the £220,000-a-week player’s preference to join them.
Following Barca’s announcement today, Fabrizio Romano dropped an update on the situation, writing on X: “João Félix and João Cancelo’s situation remain open for Barcelona.
“Talks took place with his agent Jorge Mendes to keep both players for next season. Discussions to continue on clubs side with Atléti and Man City.”
Interestingly, Barca announced on social media that Cancelo and Joao Felix would not be staying. But, as per MEN, they deleted their posts thanking the players for their service after they caused confusion.
Presumably, some fans took the posts meant the club would definitely not be re-signing the players, when it is common knowledge Barca want both back.
Cancelo to Barca still a possibility
We will now wait and see if Barcelona will be able to get Cancelo back.
It would be no surprise if this one rumbled on for most of the summer, because City want to sell and Barca can’t afford to buy him.
The situation is therefore difficult for City.
Some hoops will need to be jumped through, and potential compromises made. The issue is that Barca are Cancelo’s main priority, and there does not seem to be a lot of interest from other clubs, side from some in Saudi Arabia.
It might be that City seek a loan move with an obligation to buy, which would give Barca a chance to get their finances in order.