Portuguese Deco, the sporting director of Barcelona, confirmed that signing João Cancelo during the winter transfer window came with the aim of raising the team's quality and providing additional technical solutions, although the deal has not been officially announced yet.

Deco said: "Signing Cancelo came because he is a player who improves the team's quality, and what matters in the winter transfer window is development; staying at the same level or regressing makes no sense."

The sporting director of Barcelona continued: "It is not about the center-back position, as we are regaining Ronald, and the coach confirmed that he represents an additional option in this position."

He explained: "Having Cancelo will allow Eric Garcia not to play as a full-back, a position he has played a lot, and it also allows, at certain moments, to include Koundé in the center, which gives us solutions that were not available before."

He added: "Cancelo is a player of high quality and level, and it was a difficult deal to complete without certain circumstances, as he was not registered and had an agreement allowing him to leave."

He confirmed: "The player loves Barcelona, and he always comes to lower his salary because of the club's appeal and because it aligns with his current capabilities."

Speaking about the Spanish Super Cup final against Real Madrid, Deco said: "The goal was to reach the final, and we presented a serious and complete match in the semi-final."

He added: "The final is always difficult against our traditional rival, and Real Madrid is a big team despite their struggles against Atlético Madrid."

Deco concluded his statements by saying: "We are optimistic because we want to win, but we face a strong team that has previously outperformed us this season, so we must be better than we were in the previous encounter."