Joao Cancelo completes Man City exit for Bayern Munich and hints he has qualities Guardiola felt he lacked
Manchester City have completed the deal that sees them send Joao Cancelo to Bayern Munich on loan for the rest of the season.
Cancelo was a hugely influential player for City last season as they won the Premier League title. However, things have not been going quite as well for him this term. He has played 26 times in all competitions, scoring twice and making five assists.
His numbers have been respectable, but he seems to have lost the respect of Pep Guardiola. Indeed, there have been suggestions of the pair clashing prior to the manager sanctioning his exit.
Now, the reigning Premier League champions have confirmed Cancelo has left for their Bundesliga counterparts.
Despite his impressive spell with the club, Man City have used less than 50 words to announce Cancelo’s exit.
Their statement reads: “Joao Cancelo has joined Bayern Munich on loan until the end of the season.
“The 28-year-old joined City from Juventus in 2019, following spells in Spain and his native Portugal.
“The Portuguese has now moved to Germany to join the Bundesliga outfit for the remainder of the 2022/23 campaign.”
Bayern will have an option to buy the full-back at the end of the season if all goes to plan, reportedly for £61million. Hence, his City career could be over at 154 appearances (with nine goals and 22 assists).
Joao Cancelo has ‘enormous motivation’ with Bayern
Giving his take on the move, Cancelo told his new team’s website: “FC Bayern is a great club, one of the best in the world, and it’s enormous motivation for me to now play alongside these extraordinary players in a team.
“I know that this club, this team lives for titles and wins titles every year. I’m also driven by the hunger for success. I‘ll give my best for FC Bayern.”
It is noticeable that he has cited his motivation, when a lack of desire was alluded to by Guardiola – without directly referring to him – prior to his exit.
The 41-cap Portugal international has been a long-term target for Bayern, whose board member Hasan Salihamidzic has explained why he will fit in ideally at the Allianz Arena.
Salihamidzic said: “We’re very happy that Joao Cancelo will now play for FC Bayern. We’ve signed him on loan now and have the possibility of signing him permanently in the summer.
“Joao is a player we’ve been thinking about for a while now because we very much appreciate his qualities. He’s the optimal fit in our system with his attacking style of play and dynamism, and his mentality and experience fit very well in our team.
“I’m convinced Joao will help us in the coming weeks and months where we want to win titles.”
Bayern are currently top of the Bundesliga table after 18 games. Cancelo, who can play as a right-back or left-back, will wear the number 22 shirt for them.
In his absence, City will still be able to call upon Kyle Walker and Rico Lewis at right-back. Sergio Gomez is their only natural left-back, although Nathan Ake could fill that void too.
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