A final hurdle before the official announcement.. Behind the scenes of Barcelona's moves in the Cancelo deal

Portugal v Spain: Round of 16 - FIFA World Cup 2026

The Portuguese player wants to stay with Barça.

A press report on Wednesday shed new light on the future of Portugal's Joao Cancelo, the Al-Hilal player who spent last season on loan at Barcelona.

Cancelo crashed out of the World Cup with Portugal, beaten by Spain in the round of 16, a week after his loan deal with Barcelona expired.

 According to the newspaper "Mundo Deportivo", the 32-year-old travelled to the Italian island of Sardinia for his holidays and is still there, waiting for Al-Hilal, with whom he is contracted until 2027, and Barcelona to finalise the agreement for his permanent transfer.

The Portuguese full-back is completely relaxed. All he wants is to play for Barcelona.

 Both sides have agreed the terms of his contract with the Blaugrana, and only a few tax details remain before they announce his signing officially.

Barcelona do not expect everything to be wrapped up before the first team's training camp at St George's Park in England towards the end of the month, so Cancelo will most likely begin pre-season with Al-Hilal under Simone Inzaghi.

 Time is on their side. Barcelona's opening league match is on Sunday 23 August at Elche.

For now, Flick can call on Alejandro Balde from the first team and Jofre Torrents from the reserves to fill the left-back slot, plus Gerard Martin, the left-back who has reinvented himself as a centre-back.

 Left-back Jordi Pesquer, 17, joined them in training on Tuesday, with Balde following a separate programme.