Xavi Hernandez Wants Joao Cancelo as Barcelona’s New Right Side

Xavi Hernandez He made it clear in his press conference after the last game of the preseason, a well-deserved 1-0 victory against Milan: he wants the signing of a Right side. In this sense, the coach stressed that “we need a natural right-back, although Araujo, Koundé y Sergi Roberto they adapt”. The favorite of Xavi es João Cancelo, as it was last January, when he tried to get him to arrive on loan. As explained by the culé coach, Barça requested his transfer to Manchester City and the English club refused, something that weeks later contradicted Pep Guardiola. In any case, the Portuguese continues to interest Xavi, who wants to take advantage of his tense relationship with the man from Santpedor to achieve at least his transfer. The reasons are the following:

1

proven quality

Joao Cancelo is a footballer with a very refined technique both in driving and in hitting the ball. In addition, he is ambidextrous, which allows him to be dangerous and accurate from both the right and left, although originally his best foot is his right. He has a good ball strike both for the center and for the pass and the shot.

2

Multipurpose

His ambidextrous status gives Cancelo the option to act on both flanks and in faith that his coaches take advantage of it. At Manchester City, in the absence of a specialist on the left lane, Guardiola has used him there on several occasions. Also at Bayern Munich he played on the left flank. For this reason, with Cancelo a 2X1 is achieved for the wings.

3

International experience

At 29, Cancelo has spent ten seasons in the elite after making his official debut in 2014 with Benfica. His clubs have been the aforementioned Benfica, Valencia, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, where he played on loan for the last half season. In his absolute numbers, he has played 381 official club matches in which he has signed 18 goals and provided 64 assists. With the Portuguese national team he has played 44 games in which he has scored 8 goals.

4

His situation in the City

Joao Cancelo is not in a vulnerable situation at Manchester City when it comes to his contract. Not much less. And it is that the Portuguese renewed with the English club until 2027. He signed on February 1, 2022, with Pep Guardiola validating his continuity. However, since that day his relationship with the Santpedor coach has changed. Cancelo’s character is strong and he tolerates substitution badly. At City he competes with another ‘top’, Kyle Walker, and lately he had lost prominence. Hence, he asked to leave. In fact, last February he assured that he did not have any confrontation with Guardiola. “It’s a lie that I fought with him. I didn’t feel important in the team in recent games. I spoke to the coach and he also agreed. And together with the club we decided that I had to leave, that it was the best for me”, he said.In any case, the relationship isn’t the best and Pep wouldn’t mind giving him up again.

5

Jorge Mendes Man

Cancelo belongs to the media list of Jorge Mendes players, a very powerful representative due to his fame and the great organization of the company he runs, Gestifute. But what can help Cancelo the most in the event that he wants to press on to go to Barça is the great relationship that Mendes has with Joan Laporta and his good start at Manchester City, the club with which he has done business. Without going any further, another Barça target, Bernardo Silva, is also a Mendes player. The Portuguese agent has let Barcelona know that Cancelo’s option is feasible and that is why the Barça coach insists on obtaining him on loan. The winger would be willing to lower his income for playing for the Catalan club.

6

predisposition to record

If Xavi continues to insist on Joao Cancelo, it is because he knows that the footballer is seduced by the idea of ​​signing for Barça. He has already sounded on different occasions as a culé target, especially when he was at Juventus, and it motivates him to wear the shirt of a club as big as Barça. And if the Barça coach continues to look out for the Portuguese, it is because he knows that his interest in playing for Barça last January has not changed. In fact, Jorge Mendes, his agent, has made it known.

2023-08-02 16:17:15
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