"I’ve always dreamed of playing for Barcelona," says Joao Cancelo

Barcelona have signed Joao Cancelo on loan

After joining Barcelona on a season-long loan from Manchester City, Joao Cancelo has said that he is living the dream.

On the final day of the transfer window, the defender came as Xavi eventually acquired the right-back he had been pursuing all summer.

Cancelo claims that after departing Pep Guardiola's treble-winning team, he is in the ideal situation.

Cancelo comes into this season with a bit of a point to make after being regarded as unnecessary at City and failing to make much of an impression at Bayern.

Nevertheless, he remains one of the best right-backs in Europe and will look to help Barcelona resolve a positional issue that has plagued them recently.

The 29-year-old had been on the watch list of the Blaugrana throughout January, and a few weeks ago, on the last day of the summer transfer opening, he eventually made his way there.

The international player from Portugal agreed to a season-long loan agreement and turned down other offers in order to join the Catalan club.

In order to join Barcelona, Cancelo is said to have made financial sacrifices as well. He acknowledged his joy at joining his "dream club" by saying:

“I always wanted to play in the Barça shirt and show people who believed in me how difficult it was to come to Barça. It’s where I’ve always dreamed of playing. A dream club, all my friends know all my idols played for Barça”.

But there were times over the summer when it seemed quite doubtful that he would join the La Liga winners, at which time they started looking at other options.

Barça had names like Ivan Fresneda and Juan Foyth on its shortlist, but MARCA is now alleging that the Catalans had another candidate in mind.

Barcelona looked at signing Nahuel Molina, a right-back for Argentina and Atletico Madrid.

The €35 million market-valued 25-year-old received his training at the Buenos Aires Barça academy as well as stayed a few weeks at La Masia over ten years ago.