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Barcelona are in talks with Manchester City for a straight swap deal involving Nelson Semedo and Joao Cancelo, according to Sport. The report goes on to suggest that the Catalan giants are also interested in teenage centre-back Eric Garcia, who left the Blaugrana at the age of 16 to join the Manchester side.
Barcelona are reportedly short on funds this upcoming transfer window and are going to rely heavily on player swaps and loan deals to build next season's squad.
Barcelona man Nelson Semedo might join Manchester City in a swap deal
Nelson Semedo made an impressive start to the 2019-20 La Liga and Champions League campaign for Barcelona but an injury caused the 26-year-old defender to lose his spot to Sergi Roberto in the first team. Having been in and out of the starting lineup since then, the Portuguese failed to recapture his form from earlier in the season.
There were murmurs in the January transfer window that Barcelona will be looking to cash in on the former Benfica man with a host of clubs such as Juventus, PSG and Inter Milan reportedly interested in the right-back.
Semedo will add a defensive presence to the Citizens but will likely face the same problem Joao Cancelo faces at the Manchester outfit: dislodging Kyle Walker in the pecking order.
Cancelo has failed to knuckle down a position in the starting line-up for Pep Guardiola's side since his move from Juventus. The attacking full-back has been behind the consistent Kyle Walker and has made just 16 appearances for the club in the Premier League.
In a recent interview, Guardiola admitted that the former Juve man deserves more game time and has been one of Manchester City's best players in training since the restart. Speaking of the 26-year-old, he said:
"The most incredible thing from Joao is now he is a completely different individual from when he arrived. We need time to understand each other, him to me and the team and me to him too."
The former Barcelona manager concluded:
"Unfortunately for us, when we came back to restart he was the best player in the training session and was incredible, and unfortunately he had a little problem on the dangerous part of his leg and he was stopped for a while, but all I want with Joao is this happiness in the training session, and a relationship with his teammates because we know the quality that he has."
The Manchester City man is the more attack-minded between the Portuguese duo. If Barcelona do decide to replace Semedo for Cancelo, it might prove to be a shrewd acquisition for the club.
