Barcelona were lauded last summer when they completed a late double swoop for Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix, who arrived on loan from Manchester City and Atletico Madrid respectively. However, neither player has had a particularly good season.
Despite this, it appeared likely that Barcelona would try to re-sign both players, ideally on loan because permanent deals are out of the question because of their financial woes. However, Xavi Hernandez’s decision to stay on as head coach has now seen the situation shift.
According to Sport, Barcelona will no longer make an effort to re-sign Cancelo or Felix. Instead, they will only try for a deal if is economically viable, with other operations now considered to be more of a priority.
Comparing the two players, Los Blaugrana would be more interested in keeping Cancelo, who would only play as a right-back next season if re-signed, so if there was only enough budget for one of the two, it would leave Felix out in the cold. However, this could play into Barcelona’s hands, as neither Man City nor Atleti want to keep their respective players, and would prefer to let them leave again.