Barcelona ready to remove buy option from Joao Cancelo deal to get FFP approval – Romano

Having had an agreement with Manchester City to sign Joao Cancelo on a loan deal with a buy option, Barcelona have not been able to get the deal across the line due to Financial Fair Play problems.

A delay in payments that were supposed to arrive from German investors has seemingly blocked Barça from going through with the operation, with Cancelo patiently waiting for the green light.

It is unclear whether the impending exits of Clement Lenglet and Ansu Fati on loan would create enough margin for the club to sign and register Cancelo.

As such, other avenues are being explored such as the possibility of receiving funding from an American investor and the idea of club president Joan Laporta and treasurer Ferran Olive paying out of their pockets as a personal guarantee like they did last summer.

Cancelo’s buy option to be removed

Amidst this, Fabrizio Romano is now reporting that Barcelona are now prepared to remove the buy option clause inserted in Joao Cancelo’s deal so that they can receive approval on the FFP front for the deal.

As has been reported before, the agreement between Barça and Manchester City was for a season-long loan deal that included a permanent buy option worth €25 million which would be activated if certain objectives are met.

But if there is a buy option in the loan deal, La Liga counts it into the accounts for this season itself even though it would not be activated until next summer.

As such, Barcelona are now prepared to remove that option from the agreement so that the deal can be completed without any hitches.

Simple loan deal now

Romano claims that an agreement has been reached and Cancelo’s deal will be a straight loan operation until 2024.

The figure that was inserted previously as the buy option value will be used as a reference for talks over a permanent transfer next summer.

Xavi wants Cancelo to join training with the team as early as today, and as such, the deal could be completed in the coming hours, with the removal of buy option likely to address the FFP problems.