Revealed: Joao Cancelo had a FOUR-YEAR history of sulking at Man City

James Shearman

• Updated: 30 Nov 2023 13:37 GMT
• 2 min read

Joao Cancelo reportedly had a long history of causing problems at Manchester City.

Cancelo joined Guardiola's side from Juventus in 2019, in a swap deal involving Danilo, and immediately had an issue.

The Portugal international often found himself on the bench in his debut campaign, with Kyle Walker preferred in the right-back position.

He was so unhappy with the situation that he threatened to leave, according to the book 'Pep's City: The Making of A Superteam'.

Not wanting to lose the player, however, Guardiola gave his assistant, Juanma Lillo, the job of convincing him to stay.

And, having spoken to the disgruntled defender about raising his game, Lillo then went to the former Barcelona manager with the idea of playing him at left-back.

This turned out to be a fantastic suggestion, as Cancelo flourished in his new role, but it was not the end of his problems at the Etihad Stadium.

In 2022, when dropped for an FA Cup match against Arsenal, Cancelo was reportedly disinterested in Guardiola's team talk.

This time, instead of urging the 29-year-old to change his ways, the Spanish coach told City's director of football, Txiki Begiristain, and CEO, Ferran Soriano, to get rid of him.

"For the good of the team, Joao [Cancelo] better be gone by the time the winter market is closed," he said. Cancelo joined Barcelona on loan weeks later.

Joao Cancelo to Barcelona on permanent transfer

Barcelona have also been told that €30 million will allow them to keep Joao Cancelo, who is on loan from Manchester City.

The ex-Benfica star has three goals and two assists for Barca this season and has an expected transfer value of €35.7m.

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Our Player Valuation Model calculates an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) for more than 240.000 players in the world. It uses information on the player's skill, potential, performance, contract duration, position and other statistics to estimate an accurate ETV.

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Cancelo’s price, though, has been falling for several years, and the prospect of Barca receiving a return on their investment is likely to be limited to what he can produce on the football field.

Nevertheless, the prospect of picking up an experienced international player for below his market value is not a bad idea at all.