Manchester City Outcast Joao Cancelo faces Man City transfer uncertainty with Barca manager decision after sacking of Xavi

Currently on loan from Manchester City, Joao Cancelo appears to have an unclear future approaching the summer transfer season given the turbulent selection of a new manager by the Spanish team.

Having burned ties at his original club, the Portuguese full-back has so far loaned himself to Bayern Munich during City’s treble-winning campaign then to Barcelona during this season. Xavi Hernandez’s sidekick has made 41 appearances, making eight goal contributions.

Cancelo would then be in position to return to his parent club, where he still has another three years on contract, as just a season-long visitor. Given what has transpired, departure talks would once more be necessary even if this seems improbable.

It was clear there was no option inserted to purchase the player outright in the forthcoming transfer window when City and their Catalan counterparts finalized last summer’s contract. This has finally resulted in months of contradicting rumors, the most recent one suggesting the defender won’t be back to Camp Nou.

Spanish daily SPORT claims that Xavi will not be continuing under Barca’s direction, his probable successor being confirmed. Cancelo does not appeal to Hansi Flick. The German would prefer look for alternatives on the transfer market as he does not think he has the right defensive capacity to operate as part of his system.

The main flaw in Flick’s strategy would seem to be the club’s inclination for using the loan market instead of making long-term acquisitions.

This is much different from the posture two weeks ago. Earlier in the year, Xavi had declared his intention to resign his role, but the board had persuaded him otherwise. Once the season is over, continuity had essentially guaranteed a second loan for Cancelo, but now that avenue would disappear under Flick with Barca to make the managerial transition with trust between the two solid.

Second, this is a significant change in opinions about Cancelo, who as the most costly player in his position to date was originally thought to be at the very top when he proved to be a key player in Pep Guardiola’s title-winning teams of 2020–21 and 2021–22.

Finally, City should be searching for possible partners to either arrange a third consecutive loan or better yet recover as much of the £60 million they committed in 2019.