Cancelo's Bayern Munich situation leaves mess for Man City

Jacque Talbot

• Updated: 5 Mar 2023 16:38 GMT
• 3 min read

Joao Cancelo’s time at Bayern Munich isn’t going as smoothly as planned with Julian Nagelsmann leaving him out of the starting XI for three consecutive games.

The wing-back moved to the Bundesliga giants in January after what seemed to be a falling out with Pep Guardiola over game time.

The deal was a loan with €70 million to make it permanent. At the time, Bayern’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic suggested activating the move into something long-term would be tricky, and those fears are now compounded by the fact that the Portugal international has been left on the bench for a series of games.

Indeed, though Cancelo notched two assists in his first two games with the Bavarian club, but now he has fallen down in the pecking order.

Nagelsmann provides 'tactical' reasons for omission

In Bayern’s last game, a 2-1 win over Stuttgart, he failed to come on the pitch at all.

After the encounter, Nagelsmann was asked about his selection choices, and the German said he opted not to choose the Man City loanee for tactical reasons. “He has hardly ever played in a three-man defence - with the ball - at Manchester City.

“That is to say, he has never acted as a defender in the build-up. And, for the moment, we are not building with a line of four back."

It comes after the former Hoffenheim coach previously talked about the defender’s versatility, saying that 'he gives us creativity and versatility since he can play both in a defence of four and three.'

Last month, Cancelo has left the door open to a return to the Etihad, even rubbishing talks that he had a rift with Guardiola.

He said at his unveiling press conference in Munich: "I've not had much game time in the past few weeks, which influenced my decision. There was speculation that my relationship with Pep was not the best but the fact is I wanted to play more.”