Manchester City could give Barcelona financial boost this summer with move for defender | OneFootball

Manchester City might be willing to play hard-ball with Barcelona over Joao Cancelo’s future this summer, but they could well help to fund the Portuguese’s stay in Catalonia. According to Matteo Moretto, City will pursue Las Palmas defender Mika Marmol this summer.

The 22-year-old central defender has been highly impressive in his La Liga debut this season, anchoring the defence for Las Palmas who have equally been earning praise for their defence and their performance this season after winning promotion last year.

Following talk that Marmol might be of interest to the City Group, Moretto has confirmed that Manchester City are following Marmol closely, and intend to sign him this summer before loaning him to Girona for two seasons. However they will have to sell Marmol on the idea, as other sides including Ligue 1’s Nice are interested in him.

Barcelona have a 50% sell-on clause for the central defender, and it looks as if they might have some extra funds to work with this summer courtesy of Marmol. He moved to Andorra two summers ago, and then joined Las Palmas last August for €1.9m, but the Blaugrana retained their rights to him. Marmol has stood out as a proactive defensive presence in a high line, as well as one of the best ball-playing defenders in Spain. This season he ranks fourth for touches in La Liga, fifth for clearances, and seventh for progressive distance gained.