Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo’s contracts only run until the end of this season at Barcelona. Joao’s agent, Jorge Mendes, emphasized that Barca wants to make the two players permanent.
Joao Felix and Cancelo both landed at Barcelona last summer. Felix is on loan from Atletico Madrid while Cancelo is from Manchester City.
Judging from his performance, Felix is indeed less consistent. The young Portuguese winger has scored seven goals and five assists in 26 appearances in all competitions. However, recently the former Chelsea player has started to be left on the bench more often by coach Xavi Hernandez.
Meanwhile, Joao Cancelo showed an impressive performance at right back. This 29 year old footballer has contributed three goals and two assists in 22 Barcelona matches. Cancelo’s positive momentum was disrupted by a muscle injury at the start of this month so he missed five Barca matches.
Meanwhile, Barcelona is said to be releasing Joao Felix. The Blaugrana feel that Felix’s price tag of 80 million euros is too expensive, and hope to get the player for just 40 million euros. On the other hand, Barca also wants Man City to discount Cancelo’s price to 15 million euros from the price tag of 25 million euros.
Jorge Mendes, however, dampened speculation regarding the future of Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo. “Barcelona plans to recruit both Cancelo and Felix permanently. The club plans to continue working with them after this summer,” he said directly as reported by Mundo Deportivo.
Recently, Joao Felix’s performance has been hit by criticism. The 24 year old player responded by scoring a goal against Real Betis in Barca’s 4-2 win at the weekend. This goal also ended his goal drought after six matches.
“Barcelona has not had a very smooth season, but Joao Felix’s performance has been positive. And there is no doubt that he is a very good player,” Mendes added.
The goal against Real Betis meant a lot to Joao Felix. The 24-year-old footballer has contributed seven goals for Barca this season, ending a six-match goal drought.
Joao Felix then celebrated his goal celebration by making a “calm” gesture, while kissing the Barcelona emblem on his shirt. This goal also silenced criticism of Joao Felix regarding his inconsistency, which made him start to be left on the bench more often.
“People talk about me when I play and when I don’t play. They always have something to discuss anyway. I don’t really care,” said the player who belongs to Atletico Madrid, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo.
“I believe in myself and I try to do my best. This has always been the case. The best thing to do is not pay attention to the criticism,” he said.
Barcelona remains in third place with a difference of seven points from Real Madrid and eight points from Girona in the top two of the Spanish League standings. Felix warned his teammates not to slip again.
“We will fight for LaLiga until the end. Real Madrid and Girona might drop points at any time, so we have to be there to compete,” added Joao Felix.
