Man City star joins Barcelona on transfer deadline day

Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo has joined Barcelona on loan for the remainder of the 2023/24 season.

The 29-year-old, who also left City last season on loan and represented Bayern Munich, has fallen out of favour with Pep Guardiola. The Catalan was always willing to let Cancelo leave this summer, yet Barca's financial situation prevented a transfer from being concluded earlier in the window.

The deal taking Cancelo to the Nou Camp is a one-year loan with no option to buy. The full-back still has four years remaining on his deal at City, meaning the Blues will have to revisit the situation again next summer.

The Portugal star follows international team-mate Joao Felix in completing a deadline-day loan to Barcelona, and will meet up with former City players Ilkay Gundogan and Ferran Torres at the Spanish champions.

Cancelo's move may be the final piece of City action in a day where Cole Palmer joined Chelsea for a fee of up to £42.5m, while James McAtee, Tommy Doyle and Taylor Harwood-Bellis have gone out on loan. City have also brought in Matheus Nunes from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a price of £53m.

The decision to let Cancelo leave means City have just two traditional options at full-back: Kyle Walker and Rico Lewis. However, Guardiola rarely operates with traditional wide defenders and has often selected the likes of Manuel Akanji and John Stones in those roles.

City face Fulham on Saturday in the Premier League and will look to extend their winning run to four games at the start of the new season.