Soon-to-be Manchester City new signing preferred Barcelona move – report

Earlier this week, reports emerged confirming that Manchester City had agreed a deal to secure the signing of Brazilian winger Savinho, who is on loan at Girona, from his parent club Troyes.

Savinho, 19, has been impressing heavily this season at Girona and had caught the attention of Barcelona, who were looking at him as an option to strengthen the left wing in the summer.

But Manchester City have seemingly won the race, with the fact that they share the same owners as Troyes FC, playing a part. The Cityzens were unwilling to lose one of the best young talents from within their sister clubs and have acted.

Savinho wanted Barcelona move

However, now, Joaquim Piera of SPORT is reporting that Savinho himself would have preferred a transfer to Barcelona in the summer.

As mentioned earlier, Barça held a strong interest in the Brazilian attacker, with sporting director Deco being an admirer.

In fact, as per the report, back in January, the Barcelona administration even made a move towards signing Savinho, when they were in Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup.

But with there being no clarity over the Financial Fair Play margin that they would have and how much they would be able to spend, they could not ask Savinho to wait around.

As such, the winger, who would have preferred to join Barcelona, has now chosen Man City, who accelerated the operation after learning of the Catalans’ interest.

While he might not be coming to Barcelona, Savinho is understood to be happy to sign for Manchester City as playing under Pep Guardiola could help him make the Brazil squad for the FIFA World Cup 2026.