Joao Cancelo, a defender for Man City, is said to have been accused of “betraying” head coach Pep Guardiola and will reportedly “never play for the club again.”
The Portuguese international has been outstanding for Man City in recent years, solidifying his position as one of the top full-backs in the Premier League.
But after the World Cup, he dropped down the lineup, and before going on loan to Bayern Munich, he was an inactive substitute for a string of league games.
The Bundesliga team reportedly has the option to sign Cancelo permanently in the summer for somewhere around £61 million.
Cancelo’s departure resulted from rumors that he and Guardiola had a “furious bust-up.” According to reports, this happened when he didn’t start the FA Cup match against Arsenal.
Cancelo has completed a shocking loan-to-buy transfer to Bayern Munich, according to Football Insider, and is ‘not expected to feature for Man City again’.
The defender’s relationship with Guardiola and his coaching staff is reported to have “deteriorated,” and there have allegedly been “problems boiling behind the scenes.”
None of the parties involved, according to the newspaper, “expect him to return to his parent club this summer or, in fact, to play for them again.”
A different report from AS claims that “something crucial happened” at Man City that resulted in the loan transfer being finalized. This information was obtained by Sport Witness.
Cancelo’s departure was reportedly “striking” and “nearly personal” after Guardiola assisted in making him the “greatest full-back in the world.”
In the weeks before leaving Manchester City, Cancelo was charged with being “extremely unappreciative” and “betraying his mentor.”
During his presser earlier this week, Guardiola vowed not to use a “bad term” to describe Cancelo.
“He has been an unbelievable figure in the last two Premier League titles we won, but after the World Cup, we made a ‘pre-season,’ and we started to play in a different way in some patterns,” Guardiola said to reporters.
“I enjoyed what I saw, therefore I chose to extend the time I gave the players that I saw on the field.”
He is among the best-trained defenders, but in this particular case, he didn’t play much during the course of the last two or three games.
“We can’t say he didn’t play much (at all), since he was by far one of the players with the most minutes in the last couple of seasons, but he is a player that needs to play to be happy, therefore we all three sides agreed to allow him to leave to Munich.
“Bayern Munich sought him because he is a player of the highest caliber. I won’t say anything unfavorable about him.
“What can I say about his work ethic, love of football, passion, quality, and skills? Everyone is aware of it