Barcelona are probably feeling like they have gotten the better end of the deal regarding Joao Cancelo’s loan move from Manchester City, especially after he turned around their Champions League clash with Porto on Tuesday to seal qualification to the knockout stages. Yet Cancelo’s talent is not the reason Pep Guardiola and Manchester City were keen to move him on.
The 29-year-old was playing as well as anyone in the world two seasons ago, but suddenly found himself on the bench for City, and was promptly moved onto Bayern Munich on loan, where things did not work out either. Following the release of his latest book, ‘God Save Pep’, Marti Perarnau has explained why the pair fell out.
“What happened with Cancelo? When Cancelo feels handsome, he feels very handsome and he is very handsome, for example yesterday,” Perarnau explained to Cadena SER, referencing his performance against Porto.
“When Cancelo feels ugly, and when I say ugly I mean it metaphorically, for whatever reason, the collapse is very large.”
During the first half of last season, Cancelo began spending more and more time on the bench for Manchester City.
“There was a phenomenon this beginning of the year which was the appearance of Rico Lewis, at a time when Cancelo returned from the World Cup in a very poor state of form and Kyle Walker returned injured. Pep Guardiola opted for the young 17-year-old youth player over two highly experienced players; but Lewis did not shrink from the opportunity and soon earned a place on the right wing of the ‘Citizen’. The only solution was to put a 17-year-old player to play against Chelsea, Liverpool and against everyone,”
Cancelo was not willing to accept that Lewis had earned his place ahead of him.
“The kid is starting to put in extraordinary performances and is going to win the job, but Cancelo doesn’t want to accept that. He demanded to play and says ‘I’m Cancelo and I’m going to play, and not this kid’.”
Ahead of his move to Barcelona, there were some reports that Cancelo’s character could be problematic in the dressing room. As a request from manager Xavi Hernandez though, the Catalan coach assured the Blaugrana that he was happy and capable of handling the 29-year-old. So far it has brought good results for Barcelona, but problems tend to occur down the line.
