Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo recently returned from injury for Barcelona, but has apparently been playing with discomfort after coming back early.
The Portugal international is on a season-long loan with the Spanish giants, and has so far made 25 appearances for the club.
Recently against Las Palmas, Cancelo suffered a knee injury, which put him on the sidelines for a couple of weeks.
He missed the next league game for Barcelona against Real Betis, and also missed out against Copa del Rey matches against UD Barbastro and Unionistas and the Supercopa semi-final against Osasuna and final against Real Madrid.
He returned to action in the 5-3 defeat to Villarreal, coming off the bench at half-time. Cancelo put in a poor performance, with the player admitting he was a ‘disaster’ in the defeat.
Now, it is being reported that Cancelo has not been at 100% since coming back…
Joao Cancelo came back early from his knee injury at Barcelona
Mundo Deportivo are reporting today that Cancelo actually came back earlier than anticipated from his knee injury.
It is stated that Cancelo himself actually ‘forced himself to return as soon as possible’. In every game since he came back, he has been playing with a bulky bandage and has now ‘ended up with a knock’.
Mundo add that since the injury, he has felt discomfort given the overload.
It has been an intense start to the year for Barcelona with games every three days, but things are back to normal now for a couple of weeks.
There will now be a chance for Cancelo to recover fully
City won’t be happy with this
So Cancelo reportedly ‘forced himself to return as soon as possible’ from his knee injury, and City surely cannot be too pleased about this situation.
It sounds as though Cancelo has been playing with discomfort, and this is just not very responsible on the part of both the player and Barcelona.
£250,000-a-week star Cancelo may have stated that he can play, but perhaps the medical team at Barcelona should be exercising more caution, over a player who actually belongs to another club, even if he may not have a future at said club.
City can’t be having Barcelona risking Cancelo. If he were to pick up a serious injury, then it could affect his market value and the potential for the club to make a big sale this summer.
