Joao Cancelo is having a fantastic season at Manchester City and has become one of Pep Guardiola’s most important players. The 28-year-old has made 15 appearances in all competitions, scoring two goals with five assists from defence and is laying claim to be one of Europe’s best fullbacks.
Cancelo is a natural right-back but is putting in impressive performances on the left and a former City left-back showered him in praise. Aleksandr Kolarov told the Sky Blues’ official website that the Portuguese international is “a great footballer” and “dangerous” in the final third.
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He said: “It was quite clear from the beginning that Cancelo was going to be very successful with Manchester City, because he is first choice in his position and he is increasing his levels every season. He is a great footballer, and he can play on the right or the left.
“In fact, he is more dangerous on the left because he can cut in on the right and he has great vision, and he is often more like a midfielder. He is well-suited to Pep’s style of play.” Cancelo joined City from Juventus in 2019 and has gone on to make 143 appearances, scoring nine goals with 22 assists.
The 28-year-old has operated at left-back after Benjamin Mendy was suspended and he’s keeping new signing Sergio Gomez out of the side on merit too. Oleksandr Zinchenko was sold to Arsenal over the summer, but Guardiola has still preferred Cancelo over the new-boy.
Kolarov was a left-back who was stronger offensively than defensively, so he shared similarities with Cancelo. The 36-year-old, who retired over the summer, made 247 appearances in all competitions for City between 2010 and 2017.
Kolarov was an excellent servant for City and was part of their transition into champions, winning two league titles, one FA Cup and one League Cup, so his praise of Cancelo is important.
In other news, Gabriel Agbonlahor takes aim at ‘wrong’ Pep Guardiola in talkSPORT rant
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