Barcelona signed Félix and Cancelo on loan in a bid to return to glory
Friday marked the busiest day of the summer transfer market for Barcelona. They shipped Ansu Fati and other players away, as well as taking on loan the Portuguese players João Félix and Joao Cancelo.
Cancelo and João Félix both joined Barcelona from Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, respectively, to bolster the club. Barcelona hopes to reclaim its place at the top of Europe by contending for the Champions League while defending its Spanish league crown.
In contrast to Cancelo, who spent the second half of last season at Bayern Munich, Félix, who is 23 years old, did so at Chelsea. According to Barcelona, neither agreement gave the players the chance to make their moves permanent.
João Félix joins Barcelona in search of playing time
In 2019, Atletico Madrid paid Benfica 126 million euros ($135 million) to sign João Félix. While at Atletico, he showed flashes of potential but never established himself as a constant attacking force, and he lost his starting spot under coach Diego Simeone.
João Félix will almost certainly have to contend for playing time with Barcelona, who has already stacked its roster with quality.
Barcelona made multiple changes this summer, spending little and focusing on free players such as Manchester City’s Ilkay Gundogan and Athletic Bilbao’s Iñigo Martínez, whom they signed earlier this summer.
Its lone outlay was allegedly 3.4 million euros ($3.6 million) to Girona for holding midfielder Oriol Romeu to replace Sergio Busquets, who left.
Barcelona’s 2023 Summer Transfers
Barcelona loaned Ansu Fati, 20, out to Brighton for a season. He was seen as Barcelona’s next big thing after breaking out as a youngster and becoming the club’s youngest goal-scorer in La Liga and the Champions League until he suffered a devastating leg injury.
He has yet to secure a starting spot under coach Xavi Hernández after his recovery.
Abde Ezzalzouli was transferred to Real Betis by Barcelona for 7.5 million euros ($8.1 million) after excelling on loan at Osasuna the previous year, helping the team reach the Copa del Rey final.
Barcelona loaned defender Eric Garcia to Girona, while Clement Lenglet signed a one-year loan deal with Aston Villa after spending last season on loan at Tottenham.
Real Madrid’s 2023 Summer Transfer Window
Los Angeles Football Club loaned defender Mamadou Fall to Barcelona’s reserve team. Following their previous additions, Madrid did not make any other big signings this summer.
Madrid was La Liga’s biggest spender. They signed Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham for 130 million euros ($140 million).
They recruited Arda Guler, a Turkish youngster, in a transaction for up to 30 million euros ($32 million) and Fran Garcia for 5 million euros ($5.4 million).
As free agents, goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, attacker Joselu Mato, and forward Brahim Daz joined the 14-time European winners.
La Liga 2023-2024 Transfers
Sevilla released Tecatito Corona and signed former Real Madrid striker Mariano Daz as a free agent. Despite his troublesome record, Getafe loaned Mason Greenwood from Manchester United.
Celta Vigo, led by Rafa Benitez, signed free-agent goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. According to Transfermarkt.com, Spain ranked sixth among national leagues to spend, with 440 million euros ($475 million), roughly half of what Italy’s Serie A or the emerging Saudi league spent and significantly less than the 2.7 billion euros ($2.9 billion) spent in England’s Premier League.
Krishanu Das is the founder and lead writer of Sports Dribble. With more than five years of experience in sports writing, he specializes in creating well-researched guides, sports rules, player rankings, tournament explainers, and match analysis across cricket, football, basketball, tennis, volleyball, and many other sports.
Although he works as an accountant by profession, sports have always been his lifelong interest. That passion inspired him to build Sports Dribble, where he focuses on publishing accurate, easy-to-understand, and regularly updated content for sports fans around the world.
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