Barcelona have endured a disastrous week across all competitions, effectively ending any hopes for a trophy this season in just a span of two games.
One of the players openly called out for his poor performances, both against PSG and Real Madrid, is Joao Cancelo.
The full-back, who was put to the test against Ousmane Dembele and Achraf Hakimi last midweek, gave away a silly penalty in a crunch situation and failed to control PSG’s attacks down his wing.
On Sunday, he was horrendous in El Clasico as Lucas Vazquez overran him on the flank to dish out a man-of-the-match performance.
Deco confident in Cancelo
As revealed by SPORT, Barcelona understand the player’s deficiencies in defence given his important role in attack in Xavi’s setup. Yet, they do admit that a few mistakes were clearly avoidable.
The outlet furthers that Deco, who has been part of the internal debate around Cancelo’s future, is a strong advocate of the player’s continuity.
He considers the Portuguese star to be one of the best in the world in his position and has contributed a lot to Barcelona over the past nine months.
As it stands, the administration is thus firm on its stance of keeping Cancelo in the mix for the upcoming season.
Means of continuity
Barcelona ideally hope to secure Cancelo’s continuity on a new loan deal from Manchester City. However, it is well known that Pep Guardiola’s side are looking to get the player completely off their roster, with a permanent transfer being the priority.
City have reportedly received interest from clubs both in Europe and from Saudi Arabia, and thus see them as viable options who can shell out their asking fee which is upwards of €30-35 million.
From Cancelo’s point of view, the player wishes only to stay at the club of his dreams and does not fancy moving to any other club.
With a battle ensuing between Barcelona and City, it remains to be seen what comes from the chaos.
