Guardiola would have let Cancelo join Man Utd

Tom Hancock

• 20 Jun 2023 18:09 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has admitted that he would have allowed Joao Cancelo to go on loan to Manchester United.

The full-back was loaned to Bayern Munich in January – but the destination didn’t ultimately matter, according to Guardiola.

An integral member of City’s 2020/21 and 2021/22 Premier League title-winning sides, Cancelo was left unhappy by his lack of game time during the first half of the 2022/23 season and, in the words of his manager, simply ‘had to go’ in the winter transfer window.

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Speaking recently explained the circumstances of Cancelo’s exit. He said: “The reality was that we decided that he had to leave and we didn't care where he was going, even if he wanted to go to United, which is our rival.”

Joining Bayern turned out to be a good decision from Cancelo’s point of view: the Portuguese helped the Bundesliga giants to their 11th straight German title, making 21 appearances in all competitions and scoring once.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, the former Juventus and Valencia man also got his hands on another Premier League winner’s medal.

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Where to now, Joao?

With his Bayern loan spell over, it remains to be seen where Cancelo will be playing his club football next term.

The 29-year-old – who our in-house Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) model rates at €58.8m – still has four years left to run in his contract at the Etihad Stadium – but there doesn’t appear to be any obvious route for him back into the City team, not as a regular at least.

A permanent switch to Bayern looks out of the question, but he’s not likely to be short of suitors this summer.