Laporta unveils innovative strategy to sign Felix and Cancelo

Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix are on loan at Barcelona, but president Joan Laporta is certain that the club can hang on to them.

After spending much of the summer attempting to finalize a deal, Barcelona finally succeeded on deadline day to acquire Cancelo. The Portuguese had an abrupt decline in favor at Manchester City last season.

The German champions Bayern passed on the defender’s $75 million option to purchase him during the second half of the 2022-23 campaign on loan. As early as the beginning of the loan, Bayern official Hasan Salihamidzic signaled that the fixed price clause would not be exercised. Consequently, attempts to negotiate a somewhat lower sum were unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, after signing with Chelsea in January, Joao Felix, like Cancelo, spent the second half of the season on loan with another team. There were rumblings back then that the Portuguese player might have been willing to stay for a while longer with the club.

It took some time for Barcelona to express interest, but once they did, Felix was obviously eager to sign with the club.

What did Joan Laporta say of Felix and Cancelo?

Since then, these two Portuguese superstars have emerged as crucial members of Xavi’s squad. In 17 appearances in all competitions, Felix has been an integral part of the offense, with three assists and five goals.

Conversely, Cancelo has been an ever-present figure on the right side of the field. The 29-year-old has made 17 appearances for various tournaments, scoring three goals and assisting on another.

Both loan agreements lacked an option-to-buy provision, which is the main issue. So, the Blaugrana will have to haggle over transfer costs with their La Liga rivals, Atletico Madrid, and European treble winners, Manchester City.

However, Joan Laporta has given the assurance that they are actively attempting to secure their spots in the Catalan city for the next season.

“Cancelo and Felix have been playing at a high level since they arrived. The club will be able to keep them for future seasons. We plan to start negotiations for them shortly and we have good relations with both Manchester City and Atletico Madrid”, he told Mundo Deportivo.

How do Barcelona plan on retaining duo?

Actually, Laporta was the one who spearheaded the effort to have Felix signed by the La Liga champions; the Barca president oversaw the discussions to seal the one-year loan deal.

Prior to signing with Barcelona, the player expressed his desire to play for the club. More than that, he has been making it very apparent that he has zero intention of ever making it back to the club from the capital.

But Barcelona can only afford to offer a maximum of twenty to $27 million for the winger, while Atletico are demanding close to $86 million, as per Diario AS.

Now new rumors have it that Barca intend to use a “Griezmann tactic” to try to negotiate a lower price.

Before Griezmann’s loan return to Atletico, the Blaugrana were holding out hope for a substantial fee to move the Frenchman. In the end, the Colchoneros came to them with a substantially reduced annual pay offer to permanently remove the Frenchman off Barca’s books. In the end, everyone involved was happy with the bargain price.

From an economic standpoint, a possible Cancelo deal is the less daunting option. According to reports, City aren’t interested in welcoming the Portuguese defender back. Thus, Barcelona are apparently willing to pay roughly $21 million to retain him on their team.

Deco, the sports director, seems to have a significant challenge ahead of him. Determining the status of these two players’ contracts for the next season is one of the primary objectives assigned to him by the president.

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