Arsenal in pole position to sign 29-year-old Barcelona defensive target | OneFootball

Icon: Barca Universal

Barca Universal

·10 June 2023

Arsenal in pole position to sign 29-year-old Barcelona defensive target

Article image:Arsenal in pole position to sign 29-year-old Barcelona defensive target

Joao Cancelo has been one of Barcelona’s main targets in the fullback position lately. Since the turn of the year, the club have been interested in securing the services of the Manchester City superstar, who had a fallout with Pep Guardiola last year.

Cancelo was in contention to join Barcelona in January, but the club did not have the financial means to do so. Now, the Portuguese international is set to return to Man City following a short loan spell at Bayern Munich.


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Man City, though, are set to offload the player in the coming summer and are demanding a fee of €70 million. Barcelona have retained their interest in the player, but they are preferring a loan deal, as they are not in a position to sign the player on a permanent deal.

However, Man City are favouring a permanent sale for Cancelo. And according to a recent report from Diario SPORT, it appears even the player himself prefers leaving Etihad on a permanent deal rather than going out on loan once again.

To that end, Arsenal have emerged as a potential destination. The Premier League giants are keen on securing Cancelo this summer, as Mikel Arteta looks to beef up the fullback department ahead of the new season.

Barcelona, therefore, are slowly losing their grip on the pursuit of Cancelo. The club have also lowered their desire to sign a new fullback, as they are betting on signing a midfielder and a striker, before anything else.

However, it must be noted that Arsenal have yet to reach an agreement with Man City. The Gunners are not willing to pay anything more than the €30 million mark for Cancelo, so the transfer saga is far from over. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see what is Barcelona’s play here.

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