After Barcelona’s 3-0 victory over Real Madrid on Saturday night, head coach Xavi Hernandez insisted that he still needs further additions to his first team squad.
Notably, he wants a new right-back and creative midfielder signed, and he has targets in mind. According to Javi Miguel, these are Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo and Giovani Lo Celso of Tottenham Hotspur, and Xavi will push for Barcelona to sign them this summer.
Xavi aprieta por Lo Celso y Cancelo. Veremos hasta donde puede llegar el club. Sin salidas sera imposible abarcar estas operaciones. Lenglet Kessie y Dest han de marchar si o si
— Javi Miguel Club (@fansjavimiguel) July 30, 2023
Barcelona tried to sign Cancelo on loan in January, but Man City turned down the approach in favour of sending him to Bayern Munich. They could now re-enter the bidding for the Portuguese, who is unlikely to be part of Pep Guardiola’s plans for the new season.
Xavi is a big fan of Lo Celso, who is expected to be available for transfer this summer after spending the last 18 months on loan at Villarreal. Barcelona may be able to utilise a swap deal for the Argentine, as Spurs are reportedly interested in Clement Lenglet and Franck Kessie.
It remains to be seen whether Barcelona are able to grant Xavi’s requests, but if so, he will feel that his squad is fully complete ahead of the new season, which gets underway in less than two weeks’ time.
