Guardiola makes decision on selling Cancelo to Arsenal

Cameron Smith

• 31 Jul 2023 11:24 BST
• 3 min read

Pep Guardiola has reportedly decided to keep Joao Cancelo this summer, despite rumours of interest from Premier League rivals Arsenal.

Cancelo, 27, was previously a key player at the Etihad Stadium and was the player first used as an inverted full-back by Guardiola at City, a role that has now been trialled regularly by clubs across Europe.

However, he was loaned to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich in January following a fall-out with Guardiola after the 2022 World Cup.

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After Cancelo’s exit, Man City hit their stride and clawed back their deficit to Arsenal in the English top flight before going on to win the treble. Given that form without Cancelo, and the problems he reportedly caused off the pitch, it was no surprise to see him linked with an exit earlier this summer.

Bayern immediately ruled themselves out of the race to sign him - citing financial reasons - while Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal emerged as the frontrunners. In fact, the Gunners held positive talks with Cancelo in June, as exclusively revealed by FootballTransfers, before deciding to pursue Ajax's Jurrien Timber instead.

Now, Guardiola has decided that he wants Cancelo to stay at Man City this season after being impressed by his performances in pre-season. According to The Sun, Cancelo’s ‘attitude and humility on tour’ has caught the eye of Guardiola, who has been impressed by his performances so far.

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Cancelo in pre-season

The Portuguese full-back came off the bench at half-time in Man City’s first pre-season game against Yokohama F.Marinos and provided a wonderful assist for Erling Haaland in the dying seconds of the game after replacing Kyle Walker at right-back.

He followed that up with another 45 minute stint in the second-half against former club Bayern Munich, before Cancelo then played the final 35 minutes against Atletico Madrid. On both instances, he came on for Walker on the right of Man City’s back four.

Guardiola’s decision, and Arsenal’s purchase of Timber, appears to have ended any chance of Cancelo joining the Gunners this summer.