Joao Cancelo moved to Bayern Munich on loan today in a move that took just 24 hours to complete and announce. This move has shocked the footballing world as just on Sunday, it seemed as if Joao Cancelo was still an unmovable piece of a Man City side that was challenging for the quadruple. So what happened?
The big reason for the move was a longtime brewing disillusionment between Joao Cancelo and Pep Guardiola. Anyone who knows Pep Guardiola knows that he likes locker room chemistry and will demonstrate that no player is bigger than the team, similar to the Samuel Eto’o and Yaya Toure sagas.
Man City were making some shiny defensive signings after Cancelo starting breaking out at the club, such as Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Sergio Gomez, and Manuel Akanji. Also, Rico Lewis was starting to break out at Right Back, leaving Cancelo with not as much priority access anymore.
This is almost the same as what happened with Aymeric Laporte. Unlike Laporte, Cancelo got out early, and there’s a thinking that even if Bayern don’t take his 70 million euro buy option, he’ll still leave Man City permanently in the summer.
This deal will certainly boost Bayern in their own hunt for a treble and in their Round of 16 tie against PSG. Man City won’t find a replacement in time, but it didn’t even look like they were looking for one as they seem happy with their defence as it is.
Only time will tell if Bayern got a coup, whether City need Cancelo, or if he’s just a locker room stain and will struggle to find a team going into 2023-24. I’m Jim James, until next time.