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João Cancelo was forced to leave Manchester City as Pep Guardiola had become tired of the Portuguese defender’s attitude.

That’s according to journalist Lu Martín, who says the player showed a problem with his attitude and behaviour and so was shipped out by Guardiola.

Cancelo had been a key player for Manchester City since arriving in a €65m deal from Juventus in August 2019, becoming one of the best full backs in Europe and flourishing under Guardiola’s leadership.

The first half of last season saw a distinct change in his status at the Etihad, though, with Guardiola starting to rotate his side and leave out the Portuguese full-back.

That led to a very public falling out between the pair, with Cancelo first being sent out on loan to Bayern Munich in January last year before then joining Barcelona on a season-long loan deal in the summer.

Both moves naturally raised eyebrows given his performances for Manchester City over the years as well as the importance he had enjoyed in their success under Guardiola.

Most believed that there must have been something happening behind the scenes and Martín insists it was the player’s attitude and subsequent behaviour that caused issues, something which had been seen before.

“We have explained it several times,” he said.

“It’s a problem of attitude and behaviour. If there’s one thing Pep can’t stand it’s bad behaviour and being overweight. Cancelo’s behaviour was not the right one, although as a footballer he has tremendous quality.

“The same thing happened to him at Valencia. He didn’t leave because he didn’t play badly, he left because even God couldn’t stand him.

“At Barça as long as he plays, there is no problem, but the day he stops playing his character will come out. As long as he doesn’t have competition that won’t happen, but at City it was different, there was a lot of quality there.”

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