Stubborn Guardiola ‘must’ sell disruptive Manchester City man who could aid direct rivals
Frank McAvennie feels that Manchester City “must” let Joao Cancelo leave, as Pep Guardiola will “never change” his mind on him, so he won’t get any minutes.
Cancelo was a very useful player for City for a few seasons. The season before last saw the versatile full-back play 36 Premier League games, scoring once and assisting seven times.
He was also directly involved in five Champions League goals in nine games. However, last term, Guardiola’s system changed, and Cancelo was not his first choice for a few games.
He was clearly eager to play during that period, and Guardiola afforded him that luxury, but away on loan at Bayern Munich rather than with City.
McAvennie feels that Guardiola is not going to reintegrate the full-back to his squad now that he’s back from that loan spell, having not been in the squads for the Community Shield and the Premier League opener.
“Once Guardiola makes up his mind he’ll never change it,” McAvennie told Football Insider.
“It is a difficult one because Cancelo is a really good player, but it is understandable if he continues to disrupt the dressing room.”
It’s unclear if Cancelo is disrupting anything. He’ll be eager to play, as he was when he was shipped out on loan, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be causing problems.
McAvennie is right that Guardiola won’t look upon him too favourably if he is, though. In 2017, the manager stated: “Bad faces, bad behaviour… when that happens, forget about it. You cannot stay if it happens.”
McAvennie feels, therefore, that the full-back has to be sold, as he’s too good to be wasting away on the bench at City.
“He is a great player and Guardiola knows that if he is not playing him week in and week out in the Man City team, then he must let him do that elsewhere,” McAvennie added.
“I think he’s a good signing for Barcelona, I think is a really good signing because they’ve not really sorted out their defence, so he will be a great fit in La Liga and under Xavi.”
Barcelona are indeed an option, having reactivated contact with City. However, so have Arsenal, and if Barcelona can’t stump up the cash to pay for him, the Gunners might well be able to.
With that being said, City might be forced to sell to them, which would no doubt aid their rivals, and could give the north London outfit a better chance of winning the league this season.
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