“I want to challenge myself and try to have a space in this Barça”

The Portuguese full-back João Cancelo is now officially a new FC Barcelona player, after the Blaugrana club and Al Hilal Saudi FC have reached an agreement for the loan of the footballer until the end of this season, in which he will wear the number ‘2’.

“I come to have my space, to train to play. But Jules, Balde, Gerard Martín and Eric Garcia are doing very well. It’s going to be difficult, I like challenges and I want to challenge myself and try to have a space in the team,” he told the media in his presentation.

He did it after signing the transfer contract, in an operation that took hours due to a ‘transfer’ that did not arrive. Finally, with everything signed and ready to train this Wednesday and be able to make his debut when Hansi Flick considers it, Cancelo is now back at Blaugrana and, once again, on loan.

But he explained and made it clear that his return to Barça was a priority since the possibility of leaving the Saudi club arose. “I spoke with Al-Hilal, they told me that there was a possibility of leaving and I had some interested clubs, but since Deco called me I told them that I was going to wait for Barça. I told the other clubs that my first option was Barça and that I was going to wait for them,” he said.

The Portuguese international confessed that his departure from Al Hilal came unexpectedly. “The Al-Hilal coach told me one thing and then, three days later, another. It caught me by surprise, but it was good. When I heard about Barça and Deco called me, I got my act together and said I was going to wait until they signed me,” he stressed.

In terms of sports, Cancelo was excited about the project and the current ‘culer’ squad, with many former teammates who are still in the locker room. “I have spoken with Flick and I want to enjoy this team that has a lot of talent. When I was here some of the boys have already become men. It is a pleasure to see this Barça play and I come to try to help, to enjoy the club and the team and, if possible, to win titles,” he said.

The winger assured that he arrived in good physical condition to compete immediately. “Physically I feel very good. In Arabia there is a limit on foreigners and I was injured in September, they removed me from the list and they could only register me in January, but I have been training, I was in the national team and I am ready to try to play,” he stated.

Cancelo also left his continuity open beyond this season. “I have a contract with Al-Hilal, but I come to enjoy until the end of the season and then we’ll see what happens. I wasn’t lucky enough to win a title when I was here and that’s what I want: to win titles with this club,” he noted about his goals.

And he returns to FC Barcelona after his previous spell on loan – then from Manchester City – in the 2023/24 season, when he played 42 official matches between LaLiga and the Champions League, with four goals and five assists. After finishing that loan on June 30, 2024, he headed to Al Hilal, a club with which he has played 45 games in a season and a half.

Trained at Benfica and with an extensive career in top-level clubs such as Valencia, Inter Milan, Juventus, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, Cancelo will wear the number ‘2’ in this new stage as a Blaugrana, with the challenge of once again being a protagonist in a Barça that, as he himself highlighted, “lives on titles” and now has “a stronger squad” than in his previous time at the club.