The THREE incidents that led to Joao Cancelo’s Man City exit revealed

A number of matchday-related incidents in the run-up to today have been behind Joao Cancelo’s Manchester City exit, a new in-depth report has revealed.

The Portugal international is on the verge of signing for Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, with a loan until the end of the season having been agreed by both clubs, and the German side holding a purchase-option on the player – understood to be at €70 million.

Events concerning the future of the Manchester City full-back have developed at a rapid pace over the past 24 hours, but have been a by-product of a steady escalation of frustrations ever since the player returned to the club following the FIFA World Cup.

As official confirmation of a deal edges ever closer, a new report this week has detailed a number of matchday-related events that have brought us to the situation that we find ourselves in today, including incidents as recent as Friday night of last week.

As per the information of Sam Lee and Pol Ballus writing for The Athletic, Joao Cancelo was ‘furious’ over events at Stamford Bridge at the start of the month – a game that saw the Portuguese defender start at right-wing, and be substituted at the half-time interval.

The report states that team-mates ‘tried to calm him down in the dressing room’. The Athletic quotes a ‘source close to the team’, who explained, “When he’s in a good mood, he’s excellent. When he’s in a bad mood, he’s a bad boy. He thinks he is the best and doesn’t accept any advice or correction.”

On January 22, Manchester City took on Wolves at the Etihad Stadium – a match that saw Erling Haaland score his fourth hat-trick for the club as part of a dominant 3-0 victory for the reigning Champions.

For Joao Cancelo, it was another game where he had to take a seat on the bench – with Aymeric Laporte favoured as the starting left-back option for the game, and 18 year-old Rico Lewis continuing his great run of form by starting at right-back.

The Athletic report that soon after arriving at the Etihad Stadium for the game against Julen Lopetegui’s men, Joao Cancelo walked directly from the team bus to the home dugout and ‘sat on the bench by himself’.

That brings us to the present day, or the most recent match that Manchester City competed in; the Emirates FA Cup fourth round tie against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium late last week.

Joao Cancelo was once again left out of the starting XI for Manchester City, and reports elsewhere state that there had even been a ‘training ground bust-up’ between the Portugal star and manager Pep Guardiola, after the defender had ‘reacted angrily’ to being excluded from the line-up.

After the 1-0 victory over Manchester City’s Premier League title rivals – courtesy of a single goal from Nathan Ake, Sam Lee and Pol Ballus report that staff at the club felt Joao Cancelo did not pay attention in tactical meetings and did not listen to instructions from the coaches.

This was the ultimate breaking point, as the report describes Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City staff as having ‘had enough’ and feeling that the club’s full-back ‘needed to move on’.

You can read the full report on the Joao Cancelo situation HERE.

Manchester City are set to be open to the idea of signing an immediate replacement for Joao Cancelo in the hours that remain this transfer window, however the options are limited and Etihad officials are not known to be ones to rush into decisions late in the market.

Instead, Pep Guardiola and his staff will likely have to compete for the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup with Nathan Ake, Aymeric Laporte, and Sergio Gomez as their three potential left-back options.

As for Joao Cancelo, he could yet meet City in European competition this season, and as per UEFA rules, the on-loan defender would be eligible to feature for Bayern Munich against Guardiola and his players should they clash in the Champions League knock-out rounds.