Recently, Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez claimed that Manchester City had blocked their attempt to sign Joao Cancelo on loan during the January transfer window.
The Catalans were keen on signing the Portuguese international on loan in the winter after he had a falling out with Pep Guardiola. However, they were unsuccessful in their pursuit as the right-back ended up signing for Bayern Munich instead.
And Xavi believed that Man City were the reason behind Barça’s failure to sign Cancelo, as he said:
“We wanted João Cancelo at Barça in January, he was offered and we said yes. Man City discussed that internally and then told us they did NOT want to allow João to join Barcelona.”
However, Guardiola has now come out completely denied the claims made by the Barcelona manager, stating that Man City never received any offer from Barcelona for Cancelo.
“Xavi was misinformed. It is far from the truth. We decided that Joao had to leave and we didn’t care where, like if he wanted to go to United, who are the city rivals,” Guardiola said, as quoted by SPORT.
“I’m not saying he was misled, but I’m saying he was misinformed. He went to Bayern because Bayern wanted him. We didn’t receive any offer from Barça.”
Having missed out on the capture of Cancelo in January, Barcelona are once again after his signing as they hope to sign him on loan this summer. However, as things stand, they appear to be trailing Arsenal in the race as the Gunners are ready to sign him permanently.
During the press interaction, Guardiola also spoke about Barcelona’s progress under Xavi, stating that they are on the right track and can succeed in Europe if given time.
“Xavi and Mateu Alemany know much better than I do what they have to do. When you win La Liga you are the best team and, in the Champions League, when it came to the group stage they had a lot of injuries in the defensive phase and that has been their great strength this year. There were also the (refereeing) decisions on the Inter pitch,” he said (h/t SPORT).
“We are champions because a player missed from three metres in front of the goalkeeper. Three metres! That’s why now we say we are the best,” he added, before saying: “How many years did it take to win the first one? It didn’t take us long, let’s give them time.”
“The club knows perfectly well what it has to do to take another step forward.”
Speaking on the financial difficulties that Barcelona are facing, Guardiola claimed that it was the doing of those in charge previously, while he also praised Joan Laporta for trying to set things right at the club.
“It’s not a problem of City or PSG. Barça spent €400 million on three transfers, it is a problem created by those who were in charge of the club before,” the Man City boss said.
“He [Laporta] is making a titanic effort, nobody could think of renewing the team as he did and winning La Liga.”
Talking about Xavi, Guardiola hoped that he continues at the club for a long time before someone like Sergio Busquets succeeds him. At the same time, the former Barcelona boss ruled out a possible return to the club in the future.
“Barcelona have a great coach who knows the club. He won La Liga and I hope he stays for a long time. When he decides his stage is over, Busquets or someone else will come. As for me, my stage as Barcelona coach is over,” he said.