Manchester United and Manchester City have reportedly entered the race alongside Barcelona in pursuit of highly-rated Valencia defender Joao Cancelo
Spanish publication Marca have claimed that Manchester United are interested in Valencia defender Joao Cancelo. The Portuguese has impressed in his two seasons at Valencia which seems to have put the 22-year-old on the radar of big clubs.
Joao Cancelo is a Portuguese international with 3 senior caps and has a good scoring record already of 3 goals in the 3 matches. The right-back has also shown great promise when deployed in the right side of the midfield as well as on the right wing.
Jose Mourinho has almost sidelined Matteo Darmian to the fringes of the first-team setup and preferred Antonio Valencia as his first choice for the right-back position, and even though the Ecuadorian has fared well thus far, the former winger is far from a natural at that position.
The Portuguese manager is now looking to bring Cancelo to Old Trafford as the 22-year-old would provide a natural option at that position.
Barcelona were rumoured to be interested in the player two seasons ago but Valencia trumped their La Liga rivals and stole a march by securing the player’s signature.
The player has started all the La Liga games up until now for Valencia. Barcelona have now rekindled their interest in Cancelo with the Blaugranes looking for a replacement for Aleix Vidal, who looks out of favour and form at Nou Camp.
The report has also iterated that a minimum fee of €30m would be necessary in order to make Valencia interested in doing a deal for the player, but that the figure may vary before the window reopens.
Manchester City are also reported to be interested in the right-back, with Pep Guardiola looking at Cancelo as a long-term solution to the problems on the right side of the Citizens defence. Guardiola currently has the likes of Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta at his disposal, who are both on the wrong side of 30 and Cancelo would freshen up the team, while also handing the Spaniard a long-term option.
It would be interesting to see if either of the Manchester clubs are able to steal a march on Barcelona for the player or whether Valencia are able to keep hold of him.
