MCFC manager Pep Guardiola has made it clear that Joao Cancelo does not have a future at the club so he will be promptly sold off this summer, according to a report in The Athletic(h/t Sports Mole).
Manchester City had paid £60 million to sign the full-back in 2019 but a falling out with Guardiola earlier this season meant the former Juventus man was sent out on loan to Bayern Munich. Bayern had the option of signing him on a permanent deal but they have decided against it which is why Joao Cancelo is back at MCFC.
Journalist Dean Jones has also said in a recent update that the 29-year-old defender is available in the market and according to the other rumours, City are ready to offload him at a cut-price deal.
Jones told GIVEMESPORT: “Cancelo is available. There has been no obvious change in that and he can leave.
“We can see Kyle Walker has been talked about leaving too. They’re kind of open to even that happening, so Cancelo definitely could leave.”
Cancelo still has four years remaining on his contract and his market value right now is £42 million but because Pep Guardiola does not want him at the club, the full-back will be sold for way less. No transfer fee has been mentioned yet but we think a fee of around £35 million will be enough to trigger a move out of the Etihad Stadium.
Which club will end up signing Joao Cancelo in the coming weeks?
Arsenal and Barcelona’s names have been mentioned as potential suitors and in the previous few weeks, Inter Milan has also shown an interest in the defender.
All these three sides would be great destinations for Joao Cancelo but at the moment, it’s Arsenal who look the most likely to sign him up.
Inter’s interest is yet to come to the forefront but Barca is actually looking to sign the MCFC outcast in a loan move with the hopes of making it permanent next year. Arsenal, on the other hand, want to sign Cancelo permanently and this arrangement will be much more suited to Manchester City at the moment.
Another big stumbling block for Barcelona is Cancelo’s current wages because right now he earns £ 250,000 per week at Manchester City and there’s no way Barca will be able to pay such wages. Joao Cancelo will have to take a significant pay cut if he wants to join the Blaugrana.
The third and perhaps the most important reason why Cancelo is more likely to join play under Mikel Arteta next season is that he is primarily a right-back and that position is up for grabs at Arsenal right now. Ben White, who is a natural central defender played at right-back this season so if Joao Cancelo decides to join the Gunners, he will come straight into the starting lineup. The right-hand side of defence is an area of concern for the Arsenal manager and someone like Cancelo will be the ideal solution.
On paper, the Gunners are very much the favourites to land Joao Cancelo but Barcelona will definitely not give up hope because we have seen in the past that numerous players have ditched lucrative offers just because they wish to play for the Spanish giants.
