The longer the summer goes on, the longer Barcelona continue to face their transfer hurdles. Ideally, most clubs would prefer to have all of their priorities and pending objectives sorted by this point. Unfortunately, Barcelona seems to have a management that prefers to push their objectives until the very end.
Even now, many sales are still in the process of being finalized and concluded. Unfortunately for the Catalan giants, time is not on their side and they have been put in an extreme position to sort out their mess with a mountain of pressure continuing to pile on top of them.
As it stands, one of the major exits this summer could be that of Ilkay Gundogan. Many recent reports have highlighted that the player is not seen as a key part of the new structure and style that Hansi Flick wants to implement, so it becomes natural for a competitive player like Gundogan to seek solutions elsewhere.
However, much to the dismay of Barcelona, Mundo Deportivo reports that Ilkay Gundogan’s potential exit to former club Manchester City will not involve a barter or trade for Joao Cancelo. The Portuguese fullback will be treated as an entirely different operation altogether by the Citizens, and Gundogan will be pursued separately.
Formerly at Barcelona for a season-long loan, the Catalan club seems to be satisfied with the performance given by the Portuguese star. Now, however, while there is not exactly an urgency to find a new right-back, the option of Cancelo is still one that entices Barça and it is one could look to activate at some point.
For now, however, Manchester City only have two options in mind for the fullback. Either he leaves on a permanent transfer, or he leaves on a loan with conditions attached and a mandatory purchase clause. To get his services again, Barcelona will have to oblige with those specific options and nothing else.
As for Gundogan, reports about him returning to his former club have been coming out quite often this week. In fact, the transfer back to England would be one that is free of cost but saves Barcelona the entirety of his salary, something that they consider to be crucial for registrations and potential new signings.
