FC Barcelona are “very upset” with Manchester City for their conduct in the summer transfer window and its January equivalent at the start of 2023 according to Mundo Deportivo.
The winter market reportedly saw City manager and Barca legend Pep Guardiola block a potential loan move his boyhood club wanted Joao Cancelo to complete.
This came despite Guardiola and Cancelo having a training ground bust-up, with the Portuguese heading to Bayern Munich for the rest of last season instead.
Guardiola denied standing in the way of the potential operation, protesting that his former midfielder and now Barca head coach Xavi had been “misinformed” and was “far from reality”.
“We decided that Joao had to leave and we didn’t care where, [even] if he wanted to go to Manchester United, who are the city rivals,” Guardiola added.
On transfer market deadline day, Cancelo finally put pen to paper with the Catalans through a temporary deal that runs until June 30, 2024.
And while the moneyed Mancunians didn’t demand a loan fee from the cash-strapped Catalans to borrow Cancelo, they are still “very upset” with the English club after being “bothered” by some of the attitudes and comments that have come out of the Etihad.
In addition to the January hiccup, which MD suggested played a part in Barca being knocked out of the Europa League by City’s crosstown rivals Manchester United, Guardiola’s outfit also complicated Bernardo Silva potentially switching to Catalonia despite the player wanting to join the La Liga holders.
Furthermore, City have also tried to lure young Barca talents such as Lamine Yamal, Alejandro Balde and highly-rated budding defender Pau Cubarsi while able to offer them far bigger salaries than their boyhood club can currently table.
With Barca and City inextricably linked through Guardiola plus other coaches and directors that have been employed by both clubs, it remains to be seen whether the two European behemoths attempt to mend fences or become further distanced via their dealings in the transfer market.
This term, it is possible they could be pitted against one another in the Champions League providing Barca successfully qualify out of the group for the first time in three years.
