First signing – Arsenal on the verge of signing £61m Man city Player – Agent already in London Colney
Arsenal are interested in out of favour Manchester City fullback Joao Cancelo and have ‘made contact’ over a potential transfer, Fabrizio Romano has told GIVEMESPORT.
Cancelo spent the second half of the season on loan at Bayern Munich, where he helped the club snatch an 11th-consecutive league title on the final day at the expense of Borussia Dortmund.
Arsenal transfer news – Joao Cancelo
Cancelo made 11 starts in the Bundesliga, scoring once and assisting four times. As per Sky Sports, an option to buy the Portuguese international permanently for £61 million was inserted into the deal, but the Mirror reported in March that the German giants had decided against triggering it.
Barcelona also attempted to sign the player on loan in January but were not prepared to cover the entirety of his wages, according to the Manchester Evening News.
City will likely have to lower that price to move the player on in the summer, and they have shown in the past they are happy to deal with Premier League title rivals Arsenal, given the previous sales of Gabriel Jesus (for £45 million) and Oleksandr Zinchenko (for £32 million).
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s close relationship with both the club and the players after serving as Pep Guardiola’s assistant for three years has clearly been a factor in these transfers and will likely be the case again should City once again agree to sell.
What has Romano said about Arsenal and Cancelo?
Romano told GIVEMESPORT: “For Cancelo, yes, they are interested. They had some contact, and they have very good relationship with these agents. So there was a conversation over the possibility to sign Cancelo.”
Will Cancelo leave City this summer?
Cancelo is at a bit of a loose end, with Manchester City thriving in the player’s absence and both Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji shining in hybrid wide centre-back roles on the left side of Guardiola’s defence. It appears that City no longer require Cancelo’s dynamism up and down that flank and the team, as a whole, has looked more impressive as a result – winning 12 games in a row to leapfrog Arsenal and claim the Premier League title with three matches to spare along with reaching the Champions League final.
At 29 years of age, this is the perfect time for City to sell, while Arsenal desperately need a top quality fullback added to their squad. Like Zinchenko and Jesus it’s a deal that would massively benefit both parties and it wouldn’t be a surprise if this deal was all wrapped up fairly quickly.
