There’s a bit of an odd deal being talked about in Italy on Tuesday involving Manchester City, Inter and Barcelona.
The centre piece of all this is Lautaro Martínez, whom the La Liga side appear desperate to sign, but in exchange, Inter would need a player, but the one they want doesn’t currently belong to the Catalans.
If you’re confused right now, that’s normal, but we’ll walk you through it.
According to Corriere dello Sport, the key to the entire operation is Manchester City’s João Cancelo, who arrived last summer from Juventus, but hasn’t quite taken to Premier League football as smoothly as was first hoped.
That’s why Pep Guardiola, per the Italian newspaper, ‘doesn’t oppose the exchange with another Portuguese’, the 26-year-old Nélson Semedo.
This is where it all becomes a bit surreal, but bear with us.
The idea would be for Manchester City and Barcelona to swap right-backs, with Cancelo heading to Spain and Semedo to the Etihad, but, and it’s a big one, Cancelo would never actually land in Catalonia, as he would immediately be sent by Barcelona to Inter as a sweetener to get Lautaro Martínez.
For the Serie A side, that would mean the return of a defender who enjoyed a very good season at San Siro on loan from Valencia three years ago.
They were unable to make the move permanent because of FFP reasons, which allowed Juventus to swoop in and benefit from it all.
He quickly was sold for a profit to Manchester City, where he has struggled because the Premier League is ‘too dynamic for his way of playing’ and the interpretation of the right-back role is ‘different’, especially in a team like Guardiola’s.
Semedo, however, ‘has technical qualities and runs a lot’, and while he might not be as defensively reliable, he does come from ‘three years of school with the Barcelona mentality’, which would fit right in at Manchester City.
So, the recap of the idea is: Semedo and Cancelo swap clubs, but Cancelo never goes to Barcelona and is immediately sent to Inter, who welcome back a fan favourite but lose Martínez in the process as he teams up with Messi at the Nou Camp.
Simple, right?
