Guardiola drops surprise update on Cancelo's Man City future

Stuart Telford

• 22 Jul 2023 16:23 BST
• 3 min read

Joao Cancelo could have a future at Manchester City after all after Pep Guardiola left the door open for the Portuguese on the club's pre-season tour of Southeast Asia.

Cancelo and Guardiola fell out last winter when the coach switched to a system which didn't involve attacking full-backs, and the player was farmed out on loan to Bayern Munich.

The record German champions didn't exercise their option to buy Cancelo at the end of the season, and he returned to City, where Guardiola had since reflected that he would have happily seen him move to Manchester United.

READ: Guardiola would have let Cancelo join Man Utd

Cancelo's City career looked to be over. But Pep seems to have softened his stance.

"He is here. Joao has been so important for us in the past," the Catalan tactician said ahead of City's meeting with Yokahoma F. Marinos in Tokyo. "He is back here and is part of the group. We will see what happens."

Cancelo interest

Cancelo has previously contributed nine goals and 22 assists from 154 games for Man City following his €65 million arrival from Juventus in 2019, winning three Premier League titles along the way.

Now a league champion in Germany, Italy and Portugal as well as England, the demand for Cancelo's services is high, with Arsenal and Barcelona both credited with an interest in the full-back.

READ: Here we…no? Fabrizio Romano's Gvardiol transfer claim DENIED by Man City camp

City's transfer business has been relatively slow this summer, with Mateo Kovacic signed from Chelsea to replace the Barcelona-bound Ilkay Gundogan. The club are trying to sign Croatia centre-back Josko Gvardiol, but have thus far failed to meet RB Leipzig's asking price of €100m.

Guardiola is refusing to worry, though.

"Not this season just in general," he reposnded when asked if he was worried about his squad for next season. "In football you cannot be sure for anything. Football itself surprises you every day, many times. At the same time, I know the club and the players and that's why.