Despite signing Joao Cancelo on a season-long loan deal from Man City, Barcelona are deeply unhappy with the Premier League outfit.
The association between the two clubs runs deep, given that Pep Guardiola has arguably been each club’s most successful manager, whilst Txiki Begiristain has been director of football at both organisations and Ferran Soriano was once Joan Laporta’s Vice President and interim CEO at Barcelona, before becoming CEO at Man City.
Super agent, Jorge Mendes, is also inextricably linked to both clubs because of various deals, Cancelo being the latest.
According to Mundo Deportivo, however, it’s the notion that City have in some way ‘tapped up’ Barca’s young and exciting talents, Alejandro Balde, Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, that has irked the Catalans.
The latter hasn’t yet made his professional bow for the Spanish league giants, whilst Balde has quickly become first-choice left-back and Yamal, at just 16 years of age, has earned himself a starting position this season.
There are further suggestions that City had originally blocked Cancelo’s switch and been obstinate when Bernardo Silva had, apparently, made it clear that he too wanted to join Barca, not long after Ilkay Gundogan, City’s former captain, had done so.
Perhaps the final straw was an – as yet unconfirmed – report that Eric Garcia needed to be moved to La Liga rivals, Girona, a City Group club, in order to allow the Cancelo loan to be fully agreed.
It’s an incredibly delicate web that appears to be being woven, and with City quite clearly the team to beat in Europe, Barca need to remain on their guard concerning approaches.
You mean like they have for years, pot calling the kettle black