Manchester City have reached a verbal agreement to sell a "world-class" who Pep Guardiola doesn’t want, according to reports.
Who is leaving Man City?
The Sky Blues had a relatively busy summer in the transfer market following a historic treble-winning campaign in 2022/23.
Those at the Etihad made four big-money signings in recent months, with Mateo Kovacic, Jeremy Doku, Matheus Nunes and Josko Gvardiol all moving to the blue side of Manchester. In total, the club spent over £200m on refreshing their squad, with the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Cole Palmer, Aymeric Laporte and Ilkay Gundogan moving on.
Another player who departed, but only on loan, was full-back Joao Cancelo. The Portugal international joined Barcelona on a season-long loan after spending part of the previous campaign with German giants Bayern Munich.
A permanent transfer to Spain may already be on the cards, though, with an update emerging. TEAMtalk relayed reports from Spain regarding Cancelo’s future in the last 48 hours.
It has been claimed that a verbal agreement has been reached with Barcelona to make a loan move permanent in a deal worth around €35m (£30.4m), with Guardiola willing to offload the defender.
How has Joao Cancelo been doing for Barcelona?
Cancelo has been a regular in Xavi Hernandez’s side since moving to the Catalan giants, starting four games in all competitions. He hasn’t missed a game so far and has even scored two goals and provided an assist in La Liga, with Barcelona making an unbeaten start to their title defence.
Hailed as “world-class” earlier this year during his loan spell in Munich, Cancelo has already been praised by Xavi, alongside fellow new loan signing Joao Felix.
"We are talking about two players whose individual quality is beyond doubt. You see them train and you see their greatness.
"Cancelo comes from a coach (Pep Guardiola) who for me is the best and he interprets everything very well. We have spoken to him and he has understood. With Joao Felix we watched a video with him yesterday. They both give variants that make the team better. Physically, they are strong. They raise the quality of the team, which in general has been very good."
Cancelo has been used as a right-back so far this season, an area of the pitch City are currently well-stocked in with the likes of Kyle Walker, Rico Lewis and even centre-back John Stones all capable of featuring in the role.
Cancelo, who seemingly appears to have fallen out of favour under Guardiola and is on a contract worth more than £200,000-a-week, looks likely to make a permanent Etihad exit.
You could argue that it is what is best for all involved. City will be receiving a big fee for a player who isn’t in their plans, Barcelona will be getting a top-quality player and Cancelo himself may get the chance to become first choice once again, so it’ll be interesting to see if a permanent deal goes through in January or next summer, but it appears as if a full-time transfer is all set.
