Manchester City star Joao Cancelo now appears more likely to join Arsenal than Barcelona in the summer transfer window. The Portugal international is set for a permanent exit ahead of the 2023/24 season after being exiled from Pep Guardiola's squad which first resulted in him joining Bayern Munich on loan in the January transfer window.
In the days following the conclusion of Bayern's campaign, it was widely reported that the €70million (£60.2million) buy option inserted into his loan contract would not be activated. The finances needed to sign Cancelo took Bayern out of the race, thus giving a boost to Arsenal and Barcelona who are both interested in acquiring his services this summer.
The Gunners going for a repeat of last summer, with their interest in Cancelo and team-mate Ilkay Gundogan prominent, has its risks after their double swoop of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko 12 months ago which took them to within inches of the Premier League title.
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Xavi's side are also interested in signing Gundogan, but their finances prevents a double swoop from happening and it seems it has been revealed which one is their preferred target. According to Spanish outlet SPORT, Barcelona can only afford to sign Cancelo on another loan but both the player and City do not want another temporary exit.
Meanwhile, Gundogan would arrive on a free transfer and cost significantly less for the Catalan Giants despite City slashing Cancelo's his asking price down to €40million (£34.6million) as per Sport. Prior to his loan move to Bayern, City first offered the 29-year-old to Barcelona according to Xavi with his comments seeming to hand Arsenal another major transfer boost.
Speaking to TV3, he said: "We wanted Joao Cancelo at Barca in January, he was offered and we said yes. Man City discussed that internally and then told us they did not want to allow Joao to join Barcelona."
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