By Samuel A. March 9, 2023
In one of the biggest shocks ever in a January transfer window, Manchester City allowed Portugal’s Joao Cancelo to leave on loan to Bayern Munich. At the beginning of the season, Cancelo was regarded as the best full-back in the world, so the fact he was able to leave midway into the season without a replacement caught the majority of football fans by surprise. However, he hasn’t been having a rosy run at Bayern, which perhaps explains why Pep Guardiola really wasn’t too weary about seeing his once-trusted player go out on loan.
Joao Cancelo lost his place in the Bayern Munich side due to his performances in training and in matches. That is the assessment of Bayern Sporting director, Hasan Salihamidzic, who commented on Cancelo’s omission from the starting line-up in their Champions League last-16 second leg win over Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday. Cancelo started his first four games for Bayern since moving on loan from Manchester City, but has played just shy of 20 minutes across the last three games and has started on the bench for four successive games. He came off the bench against PSG to set up the tie’s third goal, but was criticized after the game by Salihamidzic, when spoke to the media, saying “Joao hasn’t been training and playing the way we envisaged lately. We’re in regular communication with him. I understand how he feels, but he is an excellent player who will become important to us in the future.”
Bayern Munich’s Manager Julian Nagelsmann had praised Cancelo’s replacement, Josip Stanisic, calling the Croatian ‘exceptional’ and a key part of their game plan. Salihamidzic also echoed the manager’s comments when he said: “He was outstanding. I’m very enthused about him as he’s a young player from our academy.”
