The prolonged saga over Joao Cancelo’s future has finally come to a satisfying and dramatically favourable conclusion for FC Barcelona. In a blockbuster transfer breaking story confirmed by Fabrizio Romano, the Portuguese full-back will make his return to Catalonia. Not on a temporary basis this time around, though. He’ll come back to Barca permanently, and on a free transfer!
🚨🔵🔴 BREAKING: João Cancelo to Barcelona, here we go! Agreement done on contract termination with Al Hilal.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 16, 2026
Cancelo has authoritazion to travel early next week, as revealed overnight. 🔜🇵🇹
João agreed all terms with Barça since June and now ready to sign, as @ffpolo confirms. pic.twitter.com/JSAC8rawJO
Separation from Al-Hilal
News broke as both Cancelo and Al-Hilal officially brought an end to their time together. The club had originally put a £10m fee on the 32-year-old full back to try and get some of their investment back but with Cancelo only hell-bent on returning to Camp Nou, the decision-makers in the Middle East were left with no choice but to rip his contract up. Left out of a number of match day squads to further solidify his stance of wanting a return.
Cancelo’s separation from the Saudi side meant he was free and available on a no-cost fee, which solved the previous obstacle Barca had to overcome.
Boost for Barca
For Barcelona and Joan Laporta, the signing of a player of Cancelo's stature without forking out any money would undoubtedly be a huge success. Joao Cancelo loves Barca, having been here before as a loan signing twice. This is a major signing for Barca, considering Flick would use the defender's ability to play on both the left and right.
Paperwork is being processed, and it is expected Joao Cancelo to fly to Barcelona in the coming days to undergo his official signing of his contract at Barcelona.
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