When asked about Joao Cancelo during City’s preseason trip to Japan, Pep Guardiola responded as follows:
He is present. In the past, Joao has been so crucial for us. He has returned home and is a member of the team after his loan stint at Bayern. As I told your colleagues, we’ll have to wait and see.
Does Cancelo have any chance, realistically speaking, of restarting his career at the Etihad? Was Pep just trying to be diplomatic, or is the Spaniard willing to at least forget?
Guardiola is unlikely to be excessively critical in public, even if City wants to sell the player. It wouldn’t do anything other than reduce any potential transfer fees.
What Transfer Fee though? Apart from the criminals of Catalonia, there is barely a queue of prospective suitors, and only then would Barcelona wish to lease him out or give him away.
You might be wondering how Cancelo would fit in as Pep seems to like a defense with three or four center-backs, with your options being Dias, Stones, Ake, Akanji, Laporte, and possibly Gvardiol.
The Portuguese defender refused to rule out a return to the team when he made his shocking loan move to Bayern Munich at the close of the January transfer window. He said the move was unrelated to his friendship with Guardiola.
There are those club members who would argue otherwise.
Pep and a few older first-team players were not pleased with Cancelo’s inability to conceal his annoyance at not being selected for games. To say that an experienced player leaves the building in the closing moments of a transfer window without even receiving a loan fee is an understatement.
It would be pointless to object that nothing was wrong, but it is the official position of both the player and the club.
Upon his arrival in Munich, Cancelo gave off the correct impressions.
“The lack of minutes was the only factor in my decision to leave City. It was rumored that I didn’t get along well with Pep Guardiola, but the truth is that I just wanted to play more, and now that I can, a dream has come true.
Thomas Tuchel, who took over as Head Coach for Julian Nagelsmann, joined Bayern after Cancelo. When Chelsea defeated City 1-0 in the 2021 Champions League Final in Porto, Tuchel was the team’s manager.
Bigging up his new manager Cancelo said: “Tuchel made me lose a Champions League Final, so I hope he will win it for me this year.
As we all know that didn’t turn out too well for the perennial Bundesliga champions.
At the Etihad, City destroyed them 3-0. Cancelo was introduced as a replacement in the second half, and some fans continued to jeer him with each touch of the ball. The Germans were defeated 4-1 overall after a 1-1 draw in the second leg at the Allianz Arena.
Although Cancelo was a member of Bayern’s Bundesliga-winning squad, he was not a regular in the first team, therefore Munich had little chance of exercising their £61.5 million option to purchase the troubled Portuguese international.
The five-month loan in Bavaria was not his “dream” coming true, but it was also not a horror either.
One wonders what he was contemplating as City ultimately won the Champions League title in Istanbul by defeating Inter Milan 1-0.
No one questions Cancelo’s skill; the issue is with his attitude. Cancelo has always been better at attacking than defending, so could he maybe be reintegrated into the team as a wide midfielder?
Does Mahrez’s impending departure provide a way to gain any significant game time?
He might have already damaged his relationship with Pep, and the preseason is only an opportunity to display him in a favorable light. Time will only tell.
Never rule anything out after seeing how well he played against Yokohama F. Marinos today in front of a crowd of more than 61,000 people in Japan, including a deft assist for Erling Haaland.
Other than the words of a well-known The Clash song, there might yet be a third, more benevolent option if Pep and Cancelo can work it out:
‘Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go, there will be trouble
And if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
It might be “London Calling” if things don’t work out and speculations about Mikel Arteta and Arsenal’s interest in Cancelo become true.