Official: Barcelona sign Joao Cancelo from Manchester City

After a great deal of efforts, Barcelona have been finally able to complete the signing of Joao Cancelo from Manchester City on a season-long loan deal.

The Blaugrana had been on the lookout for a right-back and spent most of the summer pushing to sign Cancelo, with Xavi keen on having the 29-year-old at the club.

The player, for his part, was also keen on the move and everything seemed to be agreed between the parties for some time.

But the La Liga champions’ problems with Financial Fair Play meant that they had to do all sorts of hara-kiri on the deadline day to finally announce the Portuguese international.

“FC Barcelona and Manchester City have reached an agreement for the transfer of the player João Cancelo until June 30, 2024. There is no purchase option,” the official statement read.

“The Club publicly expresses its gratitude to the player for the financial effort made and his desire to wear the Blaugrana shirt.”

Ho estaveu esperant! ⚡ pic.twitter.com/8jeAX83Boz

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) September 1, 2023

There was a provision for a permanent purchase option in the initial agreement but was removed due to the problems it would pose with FFP.

As such, it is now a simple straight loan deal with Barcelona covering Cancelo’s entire wages, although it has been reported that the right-back has reduced his wages considerably to help the club with the Fair Play issues.

With the signing done, it will be interesting to see if Cancelo is ready to face CA Osasuna on Sunday night, with the player already registered with La Liga.