There was a time, not long ago, when Joao Cancelo was firmly established as one of the creative heartbeats in the Manchester City side.
Almost exactly a year ago, Cancelo penned a new lucrative five-year contract with the club. “City players have everything they need to reach their full potential, with amazing facilities, world-class teammates and an incredible manager who pushes us every single day,” he said.
“There is nowhere better to play football and it’s a pleasure to work here. I have so much I want to achieve before my career ends, and Manchester City offers me the best chance of fulfilling my ambitions.”
Cancelo is now in Bavaria, having joined Bayern Munich on loan until the end of the season. Bayern have an option to make that move permanent for £61.5million.
The move came about as a surprise. Cancelo has been a stalwart for Pep Guardiola’s side ever since he arrived from Juventus in 2019; he has taken his game to new heights under the Catalan coach, developing from a functional full-back into one of the most consistently creative players in the Premier League. He has been named in the PFA Premier League team of the year for the last two seasons.
So why have City let him go midway through a season, when they have little chance to find a replacement? The answer is multi-layered.
Growing tensions
Cancelo failed to start in each of City's last three matches in all competitions. Having previously been one of the first names on the team sheet – at right-back or left-back – his recent situation has been an unfamiliar one for the Portugal international.
Although Guardiola is known for his squad rotation, Cancelo has been one of the select few who has managed to get onto the pitch in the vast majority of matches. So to see Rico Lewis – an 18-year-old academy graduate who wears the No.82 shirt – playing ahead of him has come as a shock.
Cancelo has only started three games since the World Cup and his last two appearances were in the defeats by Southampton and Manchester United. Guardiola has been distinctly unimpressed by his apparent drop in performance levels and has phased him out, with Lewis, Nathan Ake, Kyle Walker and Aymeric Laporte taking on more responsibilities at full-back.
When he has played, the tensions between Cancelo and Guardiola have been obvious. The City manager has regularly been seen barking orders at the 28-year-old. And when he hasn’t played, Cancelo has not been good at hiding his frustration.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Pep Guardiola making the right call by letting Joao Cancelo leave without getting a replacement? Comment below.
At loggerheads
An interview Guardiola conducted back in May 2021 gives a good insight into his management style. Asked by Rio Ferdinand in an interview for BT Sport how he tries to sustain success across multiple seasons, Guardiola replied: “How many Premier League titles did you win? Six? Did you have the same squad in the first one as the last one?
“You have to shake, to move. With the same guys? It’s almost impossible. We change, after defeat and win, we change – me included, we change. At the beginning, you accept things, but when you win, you accept less.”
To foster a winning mentality over a sustained period of time, Guardiola cannot let players get comfortable. He clearly believes that Cancelo has.
That is not an opinion which Cancelo shares. He has grown angry with Guardiola’s management and a perceived lack of answers about why he is being frozen out.
Cancelo did start away to Chelsea on January 5 – but in an unfamiliar right-wing position. He was substituted at half-time, with Guardiola later apologising in his press conference. “I’m so sorry for Joao, I asked him to play in a position he wasn’t used to,” he said.
That apology was not accepted. The Athletic says Cancelo was ‘furious’ in the aftermath of the 1-0 win and the relationship between manager and player crumbled from there on.
Guardiola and his coaching staff felt that Cancelo’s body language and frequent grumpy comments to team-mates was having a negative impact on the group. He was considered disruptive.
End game
Cancelo asked his agent, Jorge Mendes, to look for options last week. When he was benched in the FA Cup match against Arsenal on Friday that was the point of no return for both sides.
The full-back had completely switched off in team meetings and was simply awaiting the chance to leave and start afresh. The move to Bayern was floated over the weekend and then became public knowledge on Monday.
City sold Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal in the summer and did not buy a replacement. They have now let another established full-back leave and are understood to not be looking for a last-minute replacement. That illustrates the depth of the ill-feeling between manager and player.
Cancelo will get his wish of regular game time at Bayern. Manager Julian Nagelsmann is in need of a right-back, with Benjamin Pavard shifting over to centre-back - or potentially leaving in summer - and Noussair Mazrouai currently out injured.
Guardiola will get his wish of freeing an unhappy and possibly disruptive player in the middle of a serious title race with Arsenal. If all goes to plan, he might even get £61.5m as well in the summer.
