Within the sporting sections of FC Barcelona, they have already identified certain positions and players that the club higher-ups and head coach Xavi believes must be considered necessities to be able to compete across Europe in the upcoming season.
The pivot position and the recruitment of a new second striker are understandably the club’s top priority, with players such as Ilkay Gundogan and Vitor Roque reportedly close to joining, but it appears that some new updates over a possible right-back candidate have also emerged courtesy of Pep Guardiola.
While talking to the press as reported by SPORT, the current Manchester City manager was questioned regarding the interest of FC Barcelona in out-of-favor right-back Joao Cancelo, and reports suggesting that the English side was deliberately not willing to send him off to Barcelona in particular.
In reply, Guardiola suggested that perhaps Xavi and Barcelona were “misinformed” and that no such prejudice exists within Manchester City against Barcelona or offloading players to them. Rather, the manager stated that it will be the player’s own preference according to which he will be offloaded to whichever club he decides. The manager’s words were:
“…They have informed you very badly. It’s far from reality. We decided that Joao had to leave and we didn’t care where, as if he wanted to go to United, which is the citizen rival. I’m not saying that he was deceived, but I am saying that he was misunderstood. He went to Bayern because Bayern wanted him. We didn’t get any offer from Barca…”
It remains to be seen exactly where the Portuguese fullback ends up playing next season, but if Pep’s words are to be believed, Barcelona have not yet made a formal approach for his transfer despite numerous reports suggesting he is one of the main candidates for a potential right-back arrival.
