The current form of FC Barcelona is arguably at its best since the arrival of Xavi Hernandez at the Catalan club. Part of the reason for that is the more developed ideologies being implemented by Xavi himself, and the other part of the reason is the arrival of several new stars.
Two stars in particular have truly amplified the quality of Barca’s play under Xavi. Both of these stars hail from Portugal and have arrived on loan from Spanish side Atletico Madrid and English Premier League champions Manchester City.
The players in question are none other than Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo. The Portuguese duo have emerged as the differential signings for Barcelona this summer and have already integrated extremely well within the side despite only coming in on the last day of the summer transfer window and having little to no time to get accustomed properly.
However, despite their massively influential performances for Barcelona, they are still loan players and will return to their parent clubs in the summer. In the case of Cancelo, Barcelona previously had a reported buy option included but it was later discarded due to Fairplay reasons.
Yet, as highlighted by Spanish outlet SPORT, Barcelona, and Deco will have their hands quite occupied in the scenario of them wishing to retain both the Joaos. Not just from a financial perspective, but also due to the fact that their parent clubs will not be easy to negotiate with.
Joao Felix
For Joao Felix, Atletico Madrid will likely create major hurdles for Barcelona to permanently take him away. Already having scored three goals for Barcelona and even having provided one assist, Felix is showcasing his true abilities for the first time in a long while due to his compatibility with Barca’s attacking play style.
However, given that he remains the record signing for Atletico Madrid, they will likely demand a high fee for his transfer and would much rather sell to a club apart from Barcelona. Given that the Catalan giants are a direct rival, it would be in Atleti’s best interests to sell the player to some other buyer apart from one in La Liga itself.
Joao Cancelo
On the other hand, Manchester City will also create problems for Barca to land Joao Cancelo permanently. Despite not being direct domestic rivals, City are aware that Cancelo has a contract until 2027 and remains one of the most talented fullbacks around, despite Pep Guardiola not counting on him.
For Barcelona, Cancelo is a positional necessity given that he is arguably their best right-back since the time of Dani Alves. On the other hand, Felix remains a great asset in attack and has allowed his teammates to perform at their highest level once again, something Barcelona will also definitely appreciate.
At the end of the day, regardless of the difficulty presented by the negotiations involved, both stars will be a costly acquisition for Barcelona to pursue. It remains to be seen how the Catalan giants approach this, but Deco will need to make sure he gets a proper head start soon rather than later to improve Barca’s chances.
