The Portuguese duo of Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix joined Barcelona on the summer transfer deadline day. While Felix arrived from Atletico Madrid, Cancelo left Manchester City to join Barcelona. The two Portuguese internationals arrived at Camp Nou on loan moves. Both Cancelo and Felix have made impressive starts to their stints at Barcelona and it is being learnt that the team management could consider acquiring the services of them on a permanent basis. According to Mundo Deportivo, the Catalan giants are likely to pay their La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid around €80 million ($85 million) to secure Felix’s permanent signing. The report went on to claim that Barcelona may have to shell out around €25 million ($26 million) for Cancelo.
Felix himself recently confessed that Barcelona have turned out to be the “ideal place” for him. “I honestly didn’t expect it. I believed, and still believe, that this is the ideal place for me but the truth is that things are going very, very well and I didn’t expect them to go so well. Let them continue like this and let it be like this until the end,” he said during an interaction with Mundo Deportivo.
Joao Felix has had a sensational start to his career at Barcelona having netted three goals in as many games across all competitions. Making his Champions League debut for Barcelona, the 23-year-old winger recorded a brace and an assist against Belgian side Royal Antwerp this week. Felix, who was a part of Chelsea last season, admitted that he had to take a pay cut to join Barcelona on a loan move this summer.
“It’s true I gave up a significant part of my salary, but I needed a change. I needed to come to a place where I can play my style of football and I have always said I think this is the ideal place. Things are going well – I didn’t expect to start so well – and it was an effort I needed to make to be able to find joy playing football again,” Felix said.
Joao Cancelo, on the other hand, has proved to be another terrific option for Barcelona. The 29-year-old defender has already netted one goal for Barcelona having played three matches for them across all competitions.
Barcelona kicked off their La Liga title defence on a promising note having remained unbeaten so far in the competition this season. Xavi’s men have claimed four wins having played five Spanish league games. With 13 points to their name, Barcelona are placed in second position in the La Liga standings. In their next outing, Barcelona will be up against Celta Vigo in La Liga on Saturday.