EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal told Cancelo asking price as talks progress positively

Steve Kay

• Updated: 10 Jun 2023 08:12 BST
• 3 min read

Talks between Arsenal and Joao Cancelo over a potential move are progressing positively, FootballTransfers can reveal.

Mikel Arteta's side have been interested in the Portuguese for a while, and indeed, as we exclusively reported in May, Arsenal and Manchester City have been engaged in transfer talks for some time with Cancelo and Gunners left-back Kieran Tierney being the subjects of the negotiations.

According to our sources, talks between Arsenal and Cancelo's camp have progressed positively since May.

Man City are asking for around £45 million (€53m) for the full-back, we are told, which aligns with FootballTransfers' Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €55.6m. We understand that Arsenal are set to launch an opening bid of £35m in the coming days.

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Cancelo would become the starting right-back at the Emirates, allowing Arteta to use Ben White as cover in the position as well as for William Saliba at centre-back. This would mean that Arsenal would not have to dip into the market for a central defender and instead could focus their efforts on securing a deal for Declan Rice.

Cancelo's falling out

Cancelo moved to the Etihad in 2019 in a deal worth €65m, but Manchester City are prepared to take a loss on the Portuguese as head coach Pep Guardiola wants to get rid of him.

The two had a falling out and the 29-year-old was subsequently shipped out on loan to Bayern Munich in January, where he played an important role in the Bavarians winning their 11th consecutive Bundesliga title. The Germans, however, have no intention of keeping Cancelo around permanently - at least not for City's asking price.

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Barcelona, on the other hand, desperately want the player, but they will have to sell first and there are questions about City's willingness to allow Cancelo to move there seeing as though they intervened in January to stop his all-but-confirmed transfer to the Camp Nou.

There are also some doubts with regard to Arsenal. City sold Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to the Gunners last season and inadvertently helped to turn them into title contenders. Does Guardiola want to strengthen Arsenal further?