Arsenal and Barcelona are both interested in signing Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo and Edu Gaspar has a huge incentive to complete a deal early this summer. Mikel Arteta raided the Etihad Stadium last summer with the double signing of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko - as both players made a huge positive impact on the Gunners' season.
Cancelo spent the second half of last season on loan at Bayern Munich after being deemed surplus to requirements by manager Pep Guardiola. The pair are said to have fallen out after the defender raised concerns about his play time at the Etihad Stadium with youngster Rico Lewis taking his spot in the first team.
Cancelo helped Bayern go on to win the Bundesliga title last term and will return to City this summer - but he is expected to leave the club after four years. The German outfit have opted not to activate their option to buy the 29-year-old defender, allowing Arsenal and Barcelona into the race to sign him.
Reports from Spain have suggested City would sanction an exit for Cancelo if an interested club pays €40million (£34.6million) this summer. There is a fear at Arsenal that Guardiola's side will refuse to sell any players to them this summer after seeing their improvement following the arrivals of Jesus and Zinchenko.
Guardiola was quizzed over the future of Cancelo earlier this year, but has often been coy on any discussion surrounding the summer transfer window. Speaking in March, he said: "Joao [Cancelo] is a player for Bayern Munich, I don’t have any comments.
"He’s at Bayern Munich. At the end of the season we will review all the cases of players."
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Now transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has detailed why the Gunners should be considering a swift move for Cancelo whilst Barcelona focus on bringing Lionel Messi back to the Nou Camp. “For sure, Cancelo is on Barcelona and Arsenal’s list," Romano said.
"For Barcelona, everything is slow because of the financial situation, the Messi priority and the La Liga conversation for Financial Fair Play. Barcelona can’t sign Cancelo this week, for example, but if this is a slow deal, Barcelona will be there.”
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