Guardiola vetoed Cancelo's January move to Barça from Man City

Barcelona sounded out the possibility of adding a right-back during the January transfer window. The name Joao Cancelo generated consensus among the sporting management and the Blaugrana reached an agreement with Manchester City, through Mateu Alemany and Txiki Begiristain, for the loan of the Portuguese, but Pep Guardiola prevented it.

Aware that the relationship between Cancelo and Guardiola was broken -- after Cancelo's anger at being on the bench several times after the World Cup -- Barça saw the opportunity to bring in the player to improve the level of the squad. Hector Bellerín's departure in January left the team without a natural right-back. That said, with Jules Kounde already in place, as well as the options of Sergi Roberto, Ronald Araujo and Alejandro Balde, it was not an essential deal.

The delicate financial situation that the Catalan club is going through prevented them from undertaking a transfer, but they did sound out the possibility of bringing in Cancelo on loan. His arrival had passed all Barça's filters, but, ultimately, Man City coach Guardiola vetoed the possibility of him wearing the Blaugrana colours.

With Barça ruled out as an option, just as it was unfeasible for the player to remain at the Etihad Stadium, Cancelo ended up signing for Bayern Munich on loan until the end of the season. Barça, however, are not throwing in the towel on a summer move for him, but are increasingly doubtful of the possibility, given Guardiola's reluctance.

OTHER VETOS

It is not the first time that the coach from Santpedor has prevented the arrival of a Manchester City player at Barcelona. In the winter of 2022 he vetoed the possibility of Raheem Sterling moving to Camp Nou to reinforce the team's forward line. However, he ended up giving the green light to the transfer of Ferran Torres, in exchange for €55 million.

On the other hand, two other players left Manchester for Barcelona: Sergio 'Kun' Agüero and Eric Garcia. Both, however, signed with the Blaugrana as free agents and at zero cost, given that their contracts with the English club had expired.