Pep Guardiola axes Man City player after ‘furious bust-up’ with club ‘adamant’ he is not needed
Pep Guardiola reportedly had a ‘furious training ground bust-up’ with Man City defender Joao Cancelo, who is now set to join Bayern Munich on loan.
In a surprising development, it was revealed on Monday afternoon that Cancelo is set to join Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich on loan until the summer.
The 28-year-old made the move to the Etihad in 2019 as he joined City from Serie A giants Juventus. He took a little while to adapt to life in the Premier League but in recent years he has established himself as one of the best full-backs in the division.
Cancelo has not featured too much for Man City since the World Cup. He was brought off at half-time during their league win over Chelsea on January 5 and he has not started in the league since.
Guardiola recently suggested that he often goes off body language when naming his starting eleven for Man City.
“I look at the body language in the training sessions and everything. You cannot play good when the body language is not correct,” Guardiola said.
“Sometimes I pick them for their body language, for how happy they look and how they are there. This is one of my main decisions when I choose the lineup.”
Ilkay Gundogan meanwhile has suggested that Man City’s players have been in need of a “wake-up call” since the World Cup.
“There’s no room for any mistakes, or for any poor performances,” said Ilkay Gundogan after the defeat in the Carabao Cup against Southampton.
“Hopefully, if there is something good we can take out of this [Southampton] game, it was like a wake-up call at the right time.
“Even though it is sad and disappointing to be out of this cup, hopefully, at the end, in a few weeks we can at least look back and take something good out of this game.”
David Ornstein of The Athletic broke the news that Cancelo is set to join Bayern Munich on loan. The German side are said to have turned their ‘long-term admiration’ into an official offer.
A separate report from The Daily Mail has revealed that this move has come about following a ‘furious bust-up’ between Guardiola and Cancelo.
The Portugal international ‘reacted angrily’ when discovering that he would not start over the weekend when Man City faced Arsenal in the FA Cup.
Cancelo has become ‘disruptive’ in training and ‘his relationship with Guardiola has progressively deteriorated after the World Cup’.
The defender ‘threatened to leave’ and City were happy to let him go when the approach from Bayern Munich came in.
It is said that Bayern Munich will have ‘the option’ to sign Cancelo permanently in the summer for £61m.
The report adds that ‘club sources are adamant that they have enough if a replacement does not arrive before the deadline’ with Nathan Ake and Sergio Gomez to choose from.
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