Exclusive: Cancelo to join Barcelona on five-year deal in summer
The right-back's agent, Jorge Mendes, and Barça have been in talks for weeks and have reached an agreement
Joao Cancelo will be one of Barcelona’s signings for next season. The club have not only taken the decision, but have negotiated with the footballer. While the deal’s in place, it will not be made public until the end of the season. The agreement is for the next five seasons and Barça feel the Portuguese full-back will be worth the money because of his potential.
Talks have been undertaken in strict confidentiality and the terms of the agreement were put in place a few weeks ago. Barça decided to move now to make sure they saw off interest from other European clubs. The Catalan club met with Cancelo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, to analyse the situation and work on a solution. Mendes would have preferred the move to happen in January, but the club made it clear they could not invest now and had to wait. In the same meeting they agreed a five-year deal for the summer. What’s left now is for the final price of the transfer to be negotiated, but Barça are all in.
Cancelo has asked Valencia not to sell him in January because he doesn’t want to move to another club. Chelsea and Bayern Munich were interested in him, but he’s taken the decision to sign for Barça. Now he wants to help Valencia in what is proving a difficult season. Valencia will ask for 30 million euros for the player, which is a lot, but Barça feel he will be worth it in the future. He’s the chosen one and he will come.
