No Man City or Arsenal: Barcelona target does not want to play in the Premier League

Barcelona brought in three defenders during the last summer window in the form of Jules Kounde, Andreas Christensen, and Marcos Alonso.

Kounde was expected to join in as a first-choice centre-back, while Christensen would play his backup, competing with Eric Garcia. Marcos Alonso, meanwhile, was expected to play third fiddle to Alejandro Balde and Jordi Alba.

None of it has gone according to expectations, though.

Kounde was, for the majority of the season, deployed as a right-back, while Andreas Chrisentsen played as the first-choice centre-back alongside Ronald Araujo. Marcos Alonso, meanwhile, was first in line to replace the CBs, and spent little to no time as a left-back.

Barcelona are preparing for next season with some adjustments to their backline, though. Kounde is no longer expected to continue as the right-back, as the player refuses to play there, and will compete with Araujo and Christensen for a spot.

As such, Barcelona have decided to look for a right-back. One of the players they are targeting is Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo.

The Portuguese ace is currently on loan at Bayern Munich, but has no intention of continuing in Germany at the end of the season. A return to the Bundesliga winners is very unlikely at this stage, according to Maximilian Koch.

The German reporter also adds that Cancelo does not want to return to the Premier League, either. He does not want to play at Arsenal, nor Manchester City.

While Barcelona are one of the parties interested in him, albeit on a loan transfer, it seems Man City are not interested in letting the player join them. Xavi confirmed that the Catalans were interested in signing him in January as well, but the move did not go through.

“We wanted João Cancelo at Barça in January, he was offered and we said yes. Man City discussed that internally and then told us they did NOT want to allow João to join Barcelona.”