Barcelona confirm Joao Cancelo made 'financial sacrifice' to sign on loan from Man City

One of the stranger aspects of Barcelona's deadline day signing of Joao Cancelo was a sentence in their article announcing the deal thanking Cancelo for the 'financial effort' he made to make the deal happen.

Barcelona said: "The Club wishes to thank the player publicly for the financial effort made and his desire to wear the Barça shirt."

Barcelona have well-publicised financial problems, and Cancelo's move from Manchester City was reportedly held up as the Catalan club waited for new funds to arrive. However, with the deal being a loan move, and with Barcelona paying all of Cancelo's wages over the season, the mention of Cancelo's financial effort was curious as he won't be taking a pay cut.

At Cancelo's announcement as a Barcelona player, their president Joan Laporta and Sporting Director Deco both referenced the 'financial sacrifice', as the player himself spoke of his dream of always playing for Barcelona since being a child.

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Welcoming Cancelo, Laporta suggested that the sacrifice could be from the player's agent, Jorge Mendes, who may have given up a fee he was entitled to.

Laporta said: “It is an operation that perhaps should have been done a long time ago, but today is the day and I wish you a lot of luck and success. A lot of work has been done to bring him here, it has not been easy, many obstacles have been overcome.

“We thank Mendes and his team, who have done everything they could to get him here. They have even sacrificed a part of what they were entitled to and it looks very good.”

Deco added: “We are going to improve a lot with him for a position we were looking for. With him we will be a more balanced, more competitive team and we have worked with the