Barcelona ‘agree personal terms’ with 154-appearance Manchester City defender amid late Saudi Arabia interest | OneFootball

Manchester City full-back Joao Cancelo has already agreed personal terms with Barcelona ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.

The 30-year-old is contracted at the Etihad Stadium until 2027, but hasn’t featured competitively for Manchester City since a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford in January 2023.

Cancelo, who signed for Manchester City from Juventus in August 2019, has enjoyed recent loan spells at Bayern Munich and Barcelona, after dramatically quitting east Manchester following a training ground bust-up with manager Pep Guardiola.

The Portuguese defender has made over 150 appearances and won three Premier League titles with the Sky Blues, and even started 23 matches of the 2022/23 campaign, prior to a shock short-term move to the Allianz Arena.

Cancelo, who recently reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship with a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory, made 42 appearances for Barcelona during a recent season-long loan.

The full-back was directly involved in nine goals, scoring four goals and registering five assists for the Catalan club across La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.

The 30-year-old featured 32 times in La Liga and on 10 occasions in Europe for Barcelona, and could return to the Camp Nou for the 2024/25 season from August, despite his current loan officially ending last month.

Barcelona officials are expected to try and re-sign the Portugal defender, with the La Liga giants interested in completing a permanent deal or another season-long loan, although Manchester City have ruled out another temporary transfer, according to Sport.

Cancelo has already agreed personal terms with Barcelona for a permanent transfer this summer according to outlet CaughtOffside, with the Spanish club facing sudden competition from Saudi Pro League duo Al-Ahli and Al-Ettifaq.

Barcelona still need to agree a transfer fee with Manchester City, something which Saudi Arabian clubs could reportedly ‘find easier’ to do, amid continued financial problems at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona have reportedly already identified Manchester United’s Aaron Wan-Bissaka as an alternative to Cancelo, with the potential for the full-back to spend pre-season with Manchester City, should no agreement be found.

Cancelo was part of the Blues’ pre-season tour of Asia last summer, and could travel to the USA with the Sky Blues this year for friendlies against Celtic, AC Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea.