Manchester City permitted Joo Cancelo to join Barcelona on a season-long loan on deadline day.
The right-back has two goals and an assist in four games, including a goal and an assist in Barcelona’s 3-2 victory over Celta Vigo on Saturday.
According to AS, the Manchester City-owned player went from ‘hell to heaven’ over the weekend, when Barcelona came from 2-0 down to win 3-2. Cancelo set up Robert Lewandowski’s equalizer in the 85th minute before scoring four minutes later.
Cancelo’s strained relationship with Pep Guardiola aided Barcelona in luring him away from Manchester City. AS relayed a remark made by journalist Oriol Domènech, who revealed what went wrong between the Portugal international and the boss.
Manchester City were defeated 2-1 by Manchester United in January. Guardiola was dissatisfied with the defender’s performance at Old Trafford and rested him for the following three games against Tottenham Hotspur, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Arsenal [EFL Cup].
According to the journalist, Cancelo was obviously upset and began to vent to his teammates after being placed on the bench for the cup match against Arsenal.
Domènech claims this ‘did not please’ Guardiola, who ‘immediately talked’ to Manchester City sporting director Txiki Begiristain and CEO Ferran Soriano to have Cancelo removed from the dressing room… His position has not changed since then.
Three consecutive games as an unused replacement resulted in the Portugal international’s ‘divorce’ from Pep Guardiola.
Cancelo played the second half of last season on loan at Bayern Munich before joining Barcelona.
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