It’s well-documented that both Barcelona and Real Madrid have had issues at right back over the last couple of seasons, and it is an area of the market that they could each look to make moves in.
Barcelona currently do not have a natural right back in their first team squad, with Xavi Hernandez having been forced to regularly play Jules Kounde there, despite the Frenchman’s preference being to play in central defence.
Dani Carvajal has been well below par this season, although he has produced big performances on occasion. Nevertheless, his consistency has been very poor, and there are questions marks over his ability to command a first team place at Real Madrid. On top of that, Lucas Vazquez and Alvaro Odriozola are not of the required standard to be regular starters.
As a result, it is an area that both clubs would benefit from strengthening in, and they may look to do just that. They have both been linked with Joao Cancelo in recent months, and Sport have reported that Manchester City would prefer to let the Portuguese join Real Madrid, rather than Barcelona.
Man City’s reason for this is that they want to sell Cancelo this summer, and Barcelona are very unlikely to be able to afford that due to their financial issues. As a result, Real Madrid would be best-placed to buy the fullback outright.
Barcelona have been pushing for Cancelo more, although they are looking for a loan deal, similar to the one that he is on at Bayern Munich currently. However, it seems that Man City aren’t interested in another temporary transfer.
Based off this season alone, there is scope to suggest that Real Madrid are in need of Cancelo more. Carvajal has proven himself to be unreliable at times, and compared to Kounde for Barcelona, it is more of an area of concern.
Barcelona could continue with Kounde at right back, although the Frenchman was signed to play as a central defender, and Xavi will want to utilise him in his natural position. However, signing Cancelo is not essential, and there is an argument that he is more needed at Real Madrid.
Despite his struggles this season, Cancelo is an excellent player, and on his day he is one of the best attacking fullbacks in world football. Whoever signs him would likely reap the rewards of his ability.
It will interested to see whether Cancelo does get a move to Spain this summer, and to which club. Barcelona and Real Madrid would need reinforcements at right back, but the former could do without, and Man City may not even let him go to Catalonia anyway.
I’d say that Pep and Txiki would give favor to letting Cancelo go to Barca over letting him go to Madrid. If it were two different clubs it would most likely come down to pure financials, but this situation is a bit different. My guess is that they would give Barca every opportunity to put something together before looking at Madrid as an option.
Cancelo, Achraf and Firmino. Rebuild done.