Yahoo Sports Pep Guardiola opens door to shock first-team return of exiled player for first time in 580 days
Pep Guardiola has sensationally offered Joao Cancelo a return to the Manchester City first-team, 580 days after his last competitive appearance for the Blues.
The 30-year-old has not featured for Manchester City since a 1-2 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford in January 2023, having spent time on loan at both Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona following a dramatic training ground bust-up.
The Portugal international has made 154 previous appearances for the Sky Blues, and spent the recent 2023/24 season at the Camp Nou, featuring across La Liga and the UEFA Champions League for Barcelona.
Cancelo wasn’t named in the Manchester City squad that beat Manchester United on penalties at Wembley Stadium in the FA Community Shield last Saturday, but has been involved in pre-season training at the City Football Academy ahead of the new campaign.
The full-back completed an initial short-term move to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich for the remainder of the 2022/23 season, before signing for Barcelona on a season-long loan last September for the entirety of the past campaign.
The defender has been linked with another loan spell in La Liga, with interest also from the Serie A, where Cancelo played prior to joining Manchester City in 2019.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has sensationally revealed that Cancelo could return to the first-team this season, over 580 days after his last competitive appearance for the Premier League champions.
“It can happen, yeah. He’s training with us. We will see [on his future],” said Guardiola.
“Maybe he stays at Manchester City, maybe he goes on loan. I don’t know yet. He’s training with us, behaving really well in the training session, he loves to play football, he loves to train.
“In training we say ‘hi’, we talk, and trained. That’s all. About what’s going to happen, it depends on his agent and the club. And at the end, if he has to stay, we will treat him like all the other players we have done since I’ve been here.
“I’ve never doubted about his qualities for one second, but I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Manchester City begin their Premier League title defence against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday afternoon, where they will be without both Oscar Bobb and Rodri due to injury.
