Barcelona fighting to reduce the buy option on Man City's Joao Cancelo
The two clubs are hopeful of agreeing to a loan deal but are apart on valuations
Manchester City and Barcelona have entered the final stretch of negotiations for Joao Cancelo. The English club are already clear about the player's determination to play for Barça and everything indicates that the loan deal will be finalised this week. The Blaugrana are trying to fight for an affordable option to buy, while City want a minimum of 45 million euros.
Barça will make an effort for Cancelo to satisfy Xavi, who had asked for a top level right-back to compete in Europe. Cancelo was ruled out for many weeks because of the high price tag, but everything was reopened last Thursday when his agent, Jorge Mendes, agreed to negotiate a deal that Barça could afford.
The Catalan club will take on Cancelo's salart, which will be reduced so that there are no problems with the salary cap, and there will be a loan fee that could be based on objectives. From there, Barça are working towards the future and want a reasonable price on the option to buy. If Cancelo works out, the club will try to sign him permanently as long as the price does not shoot up.
For Barça, the ceiling would be around 25 million euros, but City will not accept less than 45 million. And that position is going to be hard and difficult to change because in Manchester they consider that the player can be revalued without problems at Barça and will be an important asset in 2024.
This part of the negotiation should not be a final stumbling block as the two clubs hope to reach an agreement within days. On Tuesday, there is a meeting with Mendes in which everything could be unblocked and it seems that the Portuguese full-back will end up wearing the Blaugrana shirt.
