João Cancelo has failed to overcome competition from Kyle Walker to become the first choice right-back at Manchester City in his debut season in England
Reports coming out of Spain since April stated the Premier League winners could use the Portugal international in an exchange deal for Barcelona’s Nélson Semedo.
Apart from the Etihad club, Semedo’s name has been linked with Juventus and Inter Milan.
Mundo Deportivo journalist Miguel Rico now claims the Barca fullback was ‘non-transferable’ at the start of the season.
Before the season was disrupted by the Covid-19 crisis, his agent Jorge Mendes suggested the player had better offers from elsewhere. Since then, the Barca defender has been linked to City and the two Serie A clubs.
The most known claim has been the Cancelo-Semedo swap operation as both players are managed by the same agent.
Rico states a lot has been written on this topic, but it ‘will end in nothing’ because Guardiola doesn’t want Semedo. According to the report, the City manager would prefer to have his teammate Sergi Roberto.
In addition to this, Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain don’t want to deal in the market until the season is completed in August or September and Rico adds ‘that changes the perspective of Semedo’s merry-go-round and that of Barça’.
Therefore, Rico believes Semedo is closer to signing a new deal at the Camp Nou than leaving the club this summer.
