Manchester City player ‘desired’ by club after Guardiola decision – Transfer heat building up

Manchester City’s João Cancelo has featured seven times for Bayern Munich since joining them on loan in January.

The 28-year-old was replaced after the first half in his side’s 1-0 win over PSG in Paris and was restricted to four minutes of action in the return leg in Munich.

Bayern have an option to buy the right-back but aren’t willing to exercise it. That’s according to Sport, who state they have ‘already communicated’ this to Manchester City.

This means the Portuguese international will return to the Etihad, where he doesn’t have a future since Pep Guardiola has ‘definitely’ crossed his name. Therefore, the defender will be made available in the market in the summer.

Manchester City’s priority is to sell him and if they fail to do so, they would be ready to sanction another loan move. This would favour Barcelona as the fullback is ‘desired’ by the Spanish giants.

There are ‘two aspects’ that favour Cancelo’s arrival at the Camp Nou. The first one is that he was always liked by the Catalan club, since his time at Valencia. The second one is his agent, Jorge Mendes, who has close ties with Barca president Joan Laporta.

The latter ‘increases considerably’ the possibility of the Manchester City player ending up at the La Liga side next season.

Cancelo isn’t expected to be at either Bayern or City next season. Barcelona could provide an escape route for the player who no longer seems to be in Guardiola’s long-term plans.