After Joao Cancelo’s loan move to Bayern Munich was officially confirmed, the full-back was speaking to German media about his new club.
When asked about his Instagram farewell to the Blues, Cancelo had this to say: My Instagram video might look like a goodbye from Manchester City. Nevertheless, I loved my time there and always gave my best. I am focused now here at Bayern and want to win as much as possible here now. But, it is no final goodbye”. via Michael Stachelberger/@mstachelberger
There have been rumours of a potential falling out with manager Pep Guardiola being the reason why Cancelo made a swift exit from the club. However, according to the Portuguese international, the sole reason for his exit was a lack of playing time. “I’ve not had much game time in the past few weeks, which influenced my decision. It has nothing to do with my relationship with Pep [Guardiola]”. Via @iMiaSanMia
Cancelo on whether he spoke to Pep about Bayern: "I didn't talk explicitly about Bayern with Pep because everything happened very quickly. I wanted to make the right decision for my career and I did that with this great club" pic.twitter.com/8u4aZWsyGE
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) January 31, 2023
This is hardly believable as Cancelo was City’s best left-back and with the club already short of options at full-back, there is surely no way City would have sanctioned a loan deal for Cancelo if the problem was just playing time. With six clubs in his last eight years, a potential attitude issue could have been the crux of the problem and City felt the best outcome was to part ways.
As for now, City will continue the rest of the season without Cancelo and look to reach the end of the season with Sergio Gomez, Kyle Walker, Nathan Ake and Rico Lewis as their only full-back options.