Man City issue strong message to Barcelona over pursuit of €30 million-rated target

In recent weeks, much of Barcelona’s attention has been around the club’s pursuit of attacking targets such as Nico Williams and Dani Olmo.

However, Barça are equally keen on shoring up their ranks in defence, with the right-back position, in particular, emerging as one of the priorities.

Barcelona are short of options in the right-back position, with the club appearing overly reliant on Jules Kounde and Hector Fort heading into new season.

Keeping that in mind, Barcelona’s desire is to bring back Joao Cancelo, whose loan deal expired at the end of last season.

Man City unwilling to offload Cancelo easily

However, a recent report from Mundo Deportivo has offered a rather grim update on Barcelona’s pursuit of Joao Cancelo.

As per the report, Man City have made it clear to Barcelona that Cancelo is not a freebie and the player will not be available for a cut-price deal this summer.

A Barcelona return might be out of reach for Cancelo (Photo by PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP via Getty Images)

It also adds that Barcelona’s proposal to re-sign Cancelo is far from what Man City are looking for. The English champions are clear about their demand – a permanent sale and an asking fee of €30 million.

Barcelona are not in a position to afford such an amount, especially for a player who was only signed on loan last season and did not exactly enjoy a good second half of the campaign.

From an economic standpoint, Barcelona have not reserved any cash for the full-back positions, which is why the club have no option but to propose an extended loan deal for Cancelo.

Even if Barcelona manage to convince Man City to offload the star, the report suggests the Portuguese international’s high salary demands are becoming an issue.

Although Cancelo is willing to take a pay cut in order to leave Etihad, the right-back’s salary is still too high for Barcelona’s liking.

Keeping that in mind, Barcelona appear to be losing its grip on the Cancelo pursuit with each passing day and it won’t be surprising to see the Portuguese international setting for a move elsewhere.