Barcelona president meets Man City CEO, defensive target possibly discussed

Barcelona president Joan Laporta recently met Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano, ahead of the highly-anticipated friendly between the two sides.

Barça and Man City are indeed slated to face each other slated today, in what will be the first of three friendlies for the club during the ongoing US tour.

While all the focus will be on the friendly, the meeting between Laporta and Soriano, too, has raised a few eyebrows.

Laporta & Soriano discuss Cancelo’s future

According to AS, one of the talking points between the chiefs of these two respective clubs was the future of Joao Cancelo.

The Portuguese international is one of Barcelona’s top defensive targets, as the club look to shore up their options in the right-back unit.

Will Cancelo return to Barcelona this summer? (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Cancelo spent the 2023/24 campaign on loan in Catalonia. Barcelona are interested in extending the duration of the loan period, whereas Man City are keener on a permanent sale.

The Premier League champions are aware that Cancelo has no future at the club and thus prefer a permanent move.

Barcelona, though, are not in a position to afford a permanent move for Cancelo, especially in the midst of several key pursuits including Nico Williams and Dani Olmo.

That is why the future of Cancelo could have been a key topic of discussion for Soriano and Laporta, who made clear that Barcelona will not go out of their way to sign the Portuguese international.

The Catalans are only interested in another loan deal for Cancelo, who has received several other tempting offers this summer.

Therefore, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for the former Juventus star this summer.

Source link : https://barcauniversal.com/barcelona-president-meets-man-city-ceo-defensive-target-possibly-discussed/

Author : Connell Edgar-Jones

Publish date : 2024-07-30 14:56:05

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