Manchester City’s João Cancelo joined Bayern Munich on a loan deal with an option to buy in the winter market.
The Portugal international could have ended up at Barcelona instead of Bayern in January. That’s according to Sport, who state Pep Guardiola ‘vetoed’ his move to the Camp Nou.
Cancelo was unhappy with the limited game time he had at Manchester City after the World Cup and his relationship with Guardiola was broken.
This convinced the La Liga side to make an approach for the 28-year-old to replace Héctor Bellerín in January. Their delicate financial situation had ruled out buying him which is why they probed the taking him on loan.
Barca had reached an agreement with Manchester City for the defender through Mateu Alemany and Txiki Begiristain. The deal didn’t take shape because Guardiola prevented it.
Despite the failure to sign Cancelo in January, the Catalan club could return to sign him after this season. That would only be possible if Bayern decided against exercising the buying option.
Sport explain it’s ‘not the first time’ Guardiola has blocked a Manchester City player from joining Barcelona. In January 2022, the Citizens manager blocked Raheem Sterling from moving to the Camp Nou. A few months later, Sterling sealed a permanent move to Chelsea.
Guardiola, however, allowed Ferran Torres to join Barcelona in the 2022 winter market.
