Barcelona told to pay up as Man City slap price tag on Joao Cancelo despite Spanish side's struggle with financial crisis

Cancelo had a very good start to life with City, but over the years his deteriorating relationship with Pep Guardiola meant he didn't feature and eventually went out on a couple of loans. His last spell came with Barcelona, and he impressed the Catalans enough to convince them to sign the Portuguese full-back on a permanent basis. City have placed their demands in front of president Joan Laporta if Barca want to sign him this summer for Hansi Flick's debut season.

As per The Sun, Barcelona have been given two options but they both come with a transfer fee of £25 million ($32m). The first option that Barcelona have is to complete a permanent transfer of the Portuguese at the aforementioned price tag. The second choice will be to bring Cancelo to sunny Catalonia for a second successive loan spell but this time they will have to bear 100% of his wages and the deal will also have a mandatory buy clause in the summer of 2026 for the same price tag.

Last week Guardiola opened the door for Cancelo's return from exile at City when he said that the Portuguese footballer will be involved in the club's pre-season training if Barcelona and the Premier League side do not find an agreement in time.

He said: "It has to be the best for everyone. The two clubs will sit down. He is our player and, if an agreement is not reached, he will have to return in the pre-season. If he wants to stay here [at Barcelona], and the clubs agree, it will be done again."

The full-back will focus on his duties at hand before he thinks about his return to club football, as he is currently in Germany with the Portugal squad preparing for their Euro 2024 opener against Czech Republic.