Manchester City are heading towards a £60million headache with Portuguese defender Joao Cancelo.
Cancelo will return to the Etihad with Bayern Munich on Tuesday night after manager Pep Guardiola sanctioned a loan move to the Bundesliga club after it became clear that the 28-year-old was becoming a disruptive dressing room interest.
Bayern were also given the option to make the deal permanent - but have already decided that City’s £60million asking price is excessive. The German club want to pay less than half of that - or extend Cancelo’s loan into next season.
New coach Thomas Tuchel admires the former Benfica, Valencia and Juventus full-back after Cancelo and wants to keep him.
“I love João, I’ve had to play against him many times. He has the absolute highest quality, left foot, right foot, passing. He’s a different type of player than Benji Pavard. He can also play on the left in the back four,” Tuchel said in midweek.
Guardiola has told City chiefs that the player is no longer part of his plans and needs to be moved on. Cancelo signed a two-year contract extension in January and his £130,000-a-week deal now runs until the summer of 2025.
City want him off the books and although there is interest from Barcelona, the cash-strapped Catalans would also want a loan agreement and help with subsidising his wages. The Premier League champions may now have to slash their asking price to make the issue disappear.
Cancelo, signed in a £60 million deal that saw the defender move to Juventus as a £30million makeweight in the summer of 2019, was outstanding as the Blues won successive titles.
But a loss of form saw Guardiola turn to Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake as his first-choice full-backs and the emergence of teenager Rico Lewis added to Cancelo’s frustrations.
Speaking to Bayern’s official magazine, Cancelo has said his full focus is on succeeding at the club and that he still sees his start with the club as a positive one.
“Everyone and everything at FC Bayern is focused on absolute success,” he explained. Here you work really hard in every single training session – I really like this mentality. I'm happy to be here and to play for this great team,' the defender added.
“There's always a certain adjustment period for footballers. That's why I tried to integrate myself into the team as quickly as possible, to get to know the teammates & the system.”
City face Cancelo and Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter finals, with the first leg in Manchester next week. “There are three, four, five clubs that stand for themselves - and FC Bayern is of course one of them.
“Teams like FC Bayern, Manchester City and Real Madrid are always tough to beat and are favourites to win the Champions League every season. It's an honour for me to be here. We can take on anyone. We can beat any team.
“The Champions League is also my big dream - and I will not give up until I have realised it. Maybe it will work out with Bayern this year, I wouldn't mind.”
