Cancelo

Joao Cancelo is set to make a shock switch from Manchester City to Bayern Munich before the transfer deadline. Why is Pep Guardiola ready to sign off on his ...

His 2020 move to Manchester came a year after he joined Juventus from Valencia, having spent the previous season on loan at Inter. Guardiola’s mentor and former assistant Juanma Lillo was known to have established an excellent rapport with Cancelo during his time in Manchester between 2020 and 2022. Lillo left to coach Qatari side Al Sadd at the end of last season. But one of Guardiola’s hallmarks is to persistently tweak the demands placed upon his fullbacks to solve tactical conundrums. Erling Haaland’s arrival and prolific introduction into English football has been a game-changer for Guardiola in several ways. However, he has only started two league games since the World Cup, where poor form saw him lose his starting place at right-back for Portugal to Diogo Dalot. The Sporting News understands Cancelo himself presented Bayern’s interest to City. He was sent off during a 2-1 win over Fulham in November. On the face of it, Cancelo following Zinchenko through the exit door after a close-season when City failed to sign Marc Cucurella, Guardiola is leaving himself foolishly light in terms of specialist full-backs. Innovative.— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) That particular inverted role is a little restrictive for the attack-minded Cancelo — Oleksandr Zinchenko was more adept in this regard prior to his summer move to Arsenal — and he is not defensively sound enough to play in the back three in the manner of Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake. On the face of it, Cancelo has retained his place as a City regular this season — appearing in 17 and starting 16 of the club’s 20 Premier League matches.