Barcelona expect Man City help to secure new deal for Joao Cancelo

Barcelona do not expect Manchester City to stop them keeping Joao Cancelo beyond this season.

Cancelo is spending this season on loan with the Catalan giants after falling out of favour with Pep Guardiola last year. Remarkably, he still has a chance of meeting the Blues in the Champions League for the second season in a row, having played against his parent club for Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals last season.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has been happy with Cancelo's contribution and would like to keep him next season. Whether that would be a loan or a permanent deal has not been worked out, although Laporta - who has history with City bosses Ferran Soriano, Txiki Begiristain, and Guardiola - does not believe terms will be a problem to work out.

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"I think they will continue. I hope that Atlético de Madrid will not put any objection to Joao Félix continuing with us and I think that City will not object [to Cancelo] either," he told Mundo Deportivo.

"We have an agent there who is working on the issue, Jorge Mendes, and he knows our intention to continue with the players. What I can't tell you now, because it will depend a lot on the amounts, is whether we are going to sign them or extend the loan. It will surely be an extension of the transfer, already setting a price."

Cancelo is under contract until 2027 at the Etihad and City would rather get a permanent sale for the defender, given he does not have a future at the club. However, that will be reliant on interest and a reasonable fee, whereas Barcelona have in recent years not been willing to