Xavi reveals Man City backed out of January transfer
By Tom Gott
Xavi has revealed that Manchester City pulled the plug on Barcelona's attempts to sign full-back Joao Cancelo in January.
Cancelo had fallen out of favour under Pep Guardiola and was allowed to leave City towards the end of the January transfer window, ultimately joining Bayern Munich on a six-month loan deal which included a €70m option to buy which the German outfit quickly decided they were not prepared to pay.
However, before putting pen to paper on a move to Bayern, Cancelo was of interest to Barcelona and Xavi has now revealed how City ultimately backed out of a deal with the Blaugrana.
"We wanted Cancelo," Xavi confirmed to TV3. "They offered him to us and we gave the OK.
"In the end they tell us that Manchester City do not want him to come to Barça. That is true."
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Barcelona ended up signing Julian Araujo from LA Galaxy to cover for the January departure of Hector Bellerin but, after completing the paperwork for the deal 18 seconds past the deadline, were unable to register the 21-year-old Mexican.
Right-back went on to be a problem area for Barcelona, who lost Sergi Roberto to injury and often had to rely on Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde, a centre-back and left-back respectively, to cover out wide.
The La Liga champions are expected to be in the market for a new right-back this summer and have again voiced an interest in signing Cancelo, who will return to City following the expiry of his loan with Bayern.
90min understands that Cancelo is unlikely to be reintegrated into Guardiola's squad and is available for a permanent transfer, but whether Barcelona will have the money to tempt City into doing business is unclear.
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