Why Joao Cancelo left Man City for Bayern Munich on loan in January 2023 after his relationship with Pep Guardiola became increasingly strained.
Midway through Manchester City’s Treble-winning 2022/23 season, Portuguese full-back Joao Cancelo left the club out of the blue for German giants Bayern Munich on loan.
He agreed a switch until the end of the season with Bayern having the option to buy him outright for around £62m.
At the time, Man City fans were stunned by the Cancelo loan move given how important a player he had been for the squad since signing in August 2019 from Juventus.
But mainstream media reports plus insights from both Cancelo and Pep Guardiola themselves painted a clearer picture as to the real reasons why the former Valencia star was shipped out of the squad that would eventually go on to win the Treble in the June.
Joao Cancelo 2022/23 stats for Man City
Let’s have a look at what the stats say about Joao Cancelo’s start to the historic 2022/23 season at Man City before things turned sour after the New Year.
Comparing his stats before and after the 2022 World Cup break is a clear indicator of how Guardiola viewed Cancelo in the lead up to the latter’s departure. Stats taken from Transfermarkt:
Before World Cup break
- Matchday squad: 21
- Appearances: 21
- Starts: 20
- Goal contributions: 7
After World Cup break
- Matchday squad: 10
- Appearances: 5
- Starts: 3
- Unused sub: 5
- Goal contributions: 0
Why Joao Cancelo left Man City
Joao Cancelo’s return to Man City from the World Cup in Qatar was the start of his decline and according to The Athletic, a number of incidences can be linked to his departure.
They say that Guardiola and City viewed Cancelo’s general behaviour as ‘disruptive’ and it all began to unravel when he was played out of position against Chelsea on January 5 in the Premier League.
Cancelo was deployed as a right-winger but was substituted off at half-time. It was said that Cancelo was ‘furious’ as a result and he had to be calmed down by his teammates inside the Stamford Bridge away dressing room.
The Portuguese right-back’s application in training began to drop and he was then benched against Chelsea in the FA Cup just days later. But he was given a start in the Carabao Cup versus Southampton.
Unfortunately, City lost 2-0 in what was arguably their worst performance of a glorious season. And it’s safe to say Cancelo performed poorly.
Despite this, Guardiola gave Cancelo another starting opportunity against Manchester United. But following this, the emergence of John Stones from injury and Nathan Ake’s encouraging form was enough to push an out-of-sorts Cancelo down the pecking order.
The Athletic say at this point, Cancelo was giving Guardiola all sorts of ‘headaches’ due to his attitude which had worsened even more given young right-back Rico Lewis‘ ascension into the first-team picture.
After being left out of the matchday squad against Tottenham, Cancelo reportedly let his feelings known to his teammates and this was picked up on by the rest of the coaching staff.
Guardiola was becoming ‘especially concerned’ at this point and Cancelo was benched for the next game against Wolves after allegedly walking straight from the team bus before the game to the dugout by himself.
For the following match against Arsenal, Cancelo was left out altogether and seemingly had downed tools completely in the lead up to the game. The Athletic report that he wasn’t paying attention in tactical meetings and wasn’t interested in specific instructions from the coaching staff.
The situation reached breaking point as Cancelo asked his agent Jorge Mendes to help him find another club before the Janaury transfer window closed.
Discussions were then had between Guardiola and Cancelo before the loan move to Bayern was very quickly thrashed out.
What Pep Guardiola said about Joao Cancelo exit
On February 3 after the Joao Cancelo loan to Bayern Munich was sealed, Pep Guardiola responded to the move to reporters.
As quoted by Reuters, the manager said: “Next season, I don’t know what happens. (He was) an incredible figure in the last two leagues we won. After the World Cup, we had a pre-season and decided to play, in some patterns, different.
“I liked what I watched. I gave more time to other players. His personality is he loves to play. He trains the best (but) the situation is he doesn’t play much. In the last years, he was one of the players with the most minutes.
“He needs to play to be happy, we decided to let him go to Munich. If Bayern Munich want Joao it’s because he’s an exceptional player. I won’t say a bad word. His work ethic, passion, skills – everyone knows it.”
What Joao Cancelo said about Man City exit
Cancelo offered his take of the situation after leaving the Citizens on loan in January 2023. As quoted in The Guardian, he said: “My decision had to do with the playing time that had been little in recent weeks.
“There was speculation that my relationship with Pep was not the best but fact is I wanted to play more. I wanted to start this new adventure as soon as possible.
“I enjoyed my time at City and I am still under contract with the club so I don’t see it as a final departure. I will now focus only on my five months and see what happens then.”
What has happened since?
Cancelo made 21 starts out of a possible 22 for Bayern Munich across the rest of the 2022/23 season as the German giants pipped Borussia Dortmund to the Bundesliga title [Transfermarkt].
City would knock out Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals on the way to their own Champions League glory with Cancelo playing a part in both legs for the Germans.
Bayern opted not to exercise their option to purchase Cancelo from City permanently for £62m in the summer of 2023 and instead, the right-back moved to Barcelona on loan until the end of the 2023/24 season.
For the Spaniards this season, Cancelo has featured 33 times with four goals and four assists to his name so far. He is reportedly keen to make his move to Barcelona permanent in the summer.
