FC Barcelona are looking to sign two ‘world-class’ players from Manchester City this summer. According to reports, Xavi and co. identify Joao Cancelo and Bernardo Silva as targets ahead of the new season. They have shown deep interest in signing Cancelo the entire summer. And now, Xavi has also expressed his admiration of Bernardo Silva, calling him the midfielder he ‘likes the most’.
Both Silva and Cancelo are looking to leave City this summer. Bernardo is apparently looking for a ‘new challenge’ after eight successful seasons with the club. On the other hand, the fallout between Cancelo and Pep Guardiola last season, made the player feel ‘unsettled’ at City and is looking for offers to move on. He even spent a loan spell at Bayern but they didn’t sign him on a permanent deal.
Why are Barça planning to sign Silva and Cancelo?
Despite having completed 3 major signings, which includes the former City captain, Ilkay Gündogan, along with Iñigo Martìnez and Oriol Romeu, Barça still feel the need of a few more new players. According BarcaUniversal, Xavi has asked the club to sign a right-back, midfielder and a striker this summer. Even though the current squad looks to be in a great shape, Xavi believes in bringing prolific players like Silva and Cancelo, who will bring quality and a winning mentality into the squad.
Both Cancelo and Silva have enjoyed a lot of success with City, especially Bernardo Silva. In his eight seasons with club so far, he has won 5 PL titles, 2 FA Cups and the special UCL title last season. Apart from their achievements, there’s no doubt in the quality performance levels of both the players. They are arguably amongst the bests in their respective positions, being crucial for both, City as well as Portugal.
Can Barcelona afford to sign new players?
With the club’s financial situation and also having already done a few new signings, signing the City duo will not be easy for Barça. The main difficulty is the high market values of both the players. Even City are expected to demand a big amount for both the players.
The positive news is that the club had to spend very less on the signings they have completed so far. Gündogan and Martinez came in on a free transfer. Romeu cost Barça only €3.4m. Also with the reports of PSG planning to sign Ousmané Dembelé, Barça will have a good cash injection in their transfer budget. PSG will reportedly pay Barça €50m to secure the signing of Dembele. The deal hasn’t been done yet but it will surely be a good news for Barcelona. This will give Xavi and Barça a major boost in going forward with their transfer plans.
Barcelona plan to complete the signings as soon as possible. They take on Getafe in their first match of the new season. With all the speculations going on, it is quite unclear how Barcelona’s roster will look after the summer transfer market closes. If everything goes according to their plans, Barça will have one of the strongest squads in Europe.
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