Barcelona's Joao Cancelo transfer may have to wait until the summer
Barcelona want him but they cannot spend so much money on him in January with Valencia looking for over 25 million
Joao Cancelo is one of the full-backs Barcelona are most interested in. The Portuguese has been watched by the club for a while and sporting director Robert Fernandez has watched the Valencia man practically once a month in the past year and a half. He considered moving for him in the summer but Barcelona needed reinforcements in other positions and parked the negotiations. After Aleix Vidal fell out of favour with Luis Enrique the club have realised they need to bring someone else in, although cannot spend big in January—which means Cancelo is almost ruled out as an option.
Barcelona and their technical team are conscious they have a problem at right-back with Sergi Roberto the only player available beyond Vidal. The coach already used Javier Mascherano there against Manchester City and from January, the decisive games will arrive. It is risky to go without cover into these fixtures but the price of Cancelo, over 25 million euros, may mean they have to wait until June to undertake it.
Barcelona are, meanwhile, studying the market for low-cost options that will get them through to the end of the season. There will be some players who are interested in coming to Barcelona for six months to win trophies and try to convince them that they are worth keeping in the project. Cancelo was and is the objective, but Barcelona may have to wait a few months for him to sign.
