Manchester City defender will ‘fight’ to secure a summer move to Barcelona | OneFootball

As Barcelona continue their planning for the summer transfer window, manager Xavi Hernandez is understood to have made it clear to the club that they need to sign a right-back at all costs.

With Jules Kounde understood to be unwilling to continue playing at right-back any longer, Barça would have just Sergi Roberto as an option for the position, which would be far from ideal.

As such, a new player to strengthen the area needs to arrive and one of the names linked the strongest is that of Joao Cancelo.

The Portuguese international is currently away on loan at Bayern Munich from Manchester City after having had a falling out with Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium.

The Bavarian giants have a purchase option worth €70 million, which they are not planning to trigger. And with Cancelo unlikely to find a place back in Guardiola’s setup at Man City, another departure in the summer is very much certain.

And, according to SPORT, the former Juventus and Valencia right-back is ready to fight to secure a move to Barcelona.

The Blaugrana see Cancelo as a viable signing as long as he arrives on a loan deal from the Premier League champions. They are hoping to utilise their close relationship with the player’s agent, Jorge Mendes, to try and facilitate a loan arrangement in the summer.

And, Cancelo, for his part, is also said to be willing to push for a move to the Catalan outfit.

But recent reports have suggested that Manchester City are averse to sanctioning another loan exit for the Portuguese international. Instead, they would rather sell him permanently for a fee of €40 million.

At that figure, Cancelo would still be cheaper than Barcelona’s other right-back target, Juan Foyth, who has a release clause worth €55 million in his contract at Villarreal.

A move for a right-back will likely depend on the Fair Play margin that Barça have for the summer and how their plans to sign Lionel Messi and a pivot midfielder go.