Superstar’s Man City career believed to be over, with Guardiola to collect startlingly low transfer fee

An elite Manchester City star has reportedly played his last game for the club, and who he’ll join next and for how much has come to light.

Man City are unquestionably the dominant force in club football at present. Newcastle may have dumped Pep Guardiola’s side out of the League Cup on Wednesday night, though that will only strengthen City’s resolve to repeat their treble heroics of last season.

City refreshed their ranks over the summer when seeing key performers in the Guardiola era such as Aymeric Laporte, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez depart. Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic and Jeremy Doku were their direct replacements.

Another player who was integral to City’s numerous successes earlier this decade was full-back Joao Cancelo.

Indeed, the Portuguese, 29, was named in successive PFA Teams of the Year in 2021 and 2022. Cancelo even earned a place in the FIFPro World XI for 2022.

However, Guardiola’s tactical shift when incorporating John Stones as an inverted full-back saw Cancelo ruthlessly dropped from his strongest eleven mid-way through last season. Cancelo reportedly did not take kindly to his demotion and from that point on, the writing was on the wall.

Cancelo initially joined Bayern Munich on a six-month loan to begin 2023. Another loan spell awaited over the summer, with Cancelo securing a dream move to Barcelona.

The versatile full-back has made an instant impact in Catalonia, scoring twice and providing one assist in his first four LaLiga outings.

Cancelo’s loan deal does not contain an option to buy, though according to news from Spain, he’ll not be returning to Manchester at season’s end.

Man City, Barcelona strike verbal agreement worth £30.25m?

As cited by Caught Offside, Cancelo ‘only wants to play for Barcelona in 2024’. What’s more, it’s claimed a verbal agreement between City and Barcelona to the tune of €35m (approx. £30.25m) has been struck.

That is a fraction of Cancelo’s true value, though is perhaps indication of just how quickly City wish to remove Cancelo from their books.

The Portuguese was unquestionably one of the world’s top full-backs during his time at the Etihad. His early showings in Barcelona suggest he’s still at the peak of his powers. For context, Transfermarkt list Cancelo’s market valuation at a far heftier €50m (approx. £43.2m).

Hammering the final nail in the coffin, Caught Offside’s headline when summarising the report suggests it truly is game over for Cancelo at City.

Their headline reads: ‘Man City ace won’t play for the club again after latest decision’.

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