Barcelona transfer target Joao Cancelo has returned to Lisbon to reassess his options after a move to Barcelona appears to have stalled thanks to financial issues, the Athletic report.
The defender was expected to move to the Camp Nou on loan this summer after Xavi prioritised signing a new right-back before Friday’s transfer deadline.
Due to head to Catalonia on Monday, the Athletic report that the Portuguese defender ‘was told not to fly as the club could not yet afford to complete his loan’, which was ‘caused by a delay in receiving funds from a commercial agreement reached earlier this month’
The situation could be sorted in the coming hours, it is added, with Barca president Joan Laporta preparing to sign another bank guarantee against his own wealth ‘that will provide the club with an immediate injection of €20million (£17.2m)’ in a bid to rectify their financial issues.
Though the deal appears to have stalled, ‘club sources insist the Cancelo deal will still be completed’, though it is unclear whether the club will be able to rectify their financial issuers in time to comply with La Liga regulations, which has seen them struggle to register players this summer.
Cancelo spent the last part of last season out on loan at Bayern Munich after falling out with Pep Guardiola in the New Year.
The defender was expected to join Barcelona in a loan move which would include an option to buy, in a deal that would make that option an obligation to buy the fullback should Barcelona reach the last 16 of the Champions League, something they have not done since 2021.
Any deal would see Xavi’s side shell out 25m euros for the defender, though at present a move looks to be in doubt.
