Kicked out by Pep Guardiola, snubbed by Bayern Munich and in the firing line at Barcelona - what next for Man City outcast Joao Cancelo?

Last year when Manchester City were fighting for the treble, Ruben Dias was asked to sum up why his side always look so comfortable at the business end of the season.

“I guess all of us have a special feeling and taste when it comes to this stage. I think our team gets fed by these moments and I think that’s a very good characteristic to have in our space of work,” he explained.

“Every year is different. Obviously also we have different players but one thing is for sure, at least in the last two years I’ve been here, when we arrive at this stage, we’re ready.”

If only Dias could say the same for his former City team-mate Joao Cancelo. Because at the business end of this season, the Portuguese has not been ready. In fact, when everything has been on the line, he has imploded, making huge errors costing Barcelona their place in the Champions League semi-finals and any hope of winning La Liga.

While City are going for the double, Cancelo looks set to end his year on loan with Barcelona empty-handed. His mistakes might have even cost him his future in football’s elite, because looking at how he has performed and behaved in the last 18 months, which club in their right mind would want to take him on?

Attacking quality masking weaknesses

Joao Cancelo Barcelona

Cancelo is at his third club in the space of a year-and-a-half after being forced out of Man City following a toxic row with Pep Guardiola. He was immediately sent on loan to Bayern Munich but his sojourn with the Bavarians was ultimately disappointing, as he struggled to hold down a regular starting berth and his attitude to training was criticised.

So Cancelo went to Barcelona and for a period it looked as though he had found his new home, contributing to some of the team’s best results, starring in victories over Real Betis, Celta Vigo, Porto and Napoli.

His propensity to switch off and lose his marker was prevalent in the heavy home defeats by Girona and Villarreal and the draw against Granada when Barca shipped four, five and three goals respectively.

His attacking qualities largely compensated for his defensive weaknesses, however.

‘Repeating his mistakes’

Joao Cancelo Barcelona 2023-24

That is, until the defeats by PSG and Madrid. With Ronald Araujo sent off early and the Catalans down to 10 men in their quarter-final second leg against PSG, it was a night for cool heads and resilience. Cancelo did not get the memo, and for most of the game failed to track Ousmane Dembele, who was instrumental in PSG taking the lead on the night.

Barca were still level in the tie when Cancelo made a reckless challenge to bring down the Frenchman and give away a penalty from which Kylian Mbappe put PSG ahead in the tie.

Cancelo was even worse five days later in El Clasico, Barca’s final chance to reel in Real Madrid in the title race. He allowed Lucas Vazquez to get past him and into the area, leaving the talented but inexperienced Pau Cubarsi one-on-one with the winger, bringing him down for a penalty.

He again took his eye off Vazquez in the second half and the winger escaped his grasp to find Madrid’s second equaliser in the eventual 3-2 win.

“Now I know why Pep doesn’t like Cancelo. This guy plays his own football and thinks it’s only about what you do with the ball. You’re a defender!!!” said a disapproving Ronald De Boer on Dutch television.

Legendary Netherlands striker Maco van Basten was also dismayed, adding: “It’s crazy that Cancelo continues to repeat his mistakes at 29 years old.”

Another loan his only hope

Joao Cancelo

Such mistakes are not often tolerated at Barcelona and if Cancelo was still hoping that the club would sign him permanently, his performances in the crunch games have almost certainly wrecked them.

Even with his value plunging over the last year, a permanent move for Cancelo would still cost at least €30m (£25m/$32m), which would surely be out of reach for a club that is in €1.2 billion euros in debt (£1bn/$1.2bn) and was unable to spend any money on signings last summer, having burned through cash the previous year by selling off its future assets.

Barca’s finances are further stretched by the rebuilding of the Camp Nou. They simply cannot afford to spend what little money they have on a player who is so unreliable.

Last month Barca president Joan Laporta expressed confidence that Cancelo and fellow loanee Joao Felix would remain at the club next season, although hinting that a loan was the more likely scenario.

But even another loan extension seems unwise at this stage. Homegrown left-back Alejandro Balde will be fit again next season after being forced to have surgery on his hamstring and is likely to be first choice, plus Cancelo’s considerable salary, reported to be €6m (£5m/$6.2m) per year after tax, as well as additional loan fees, would seem a lot for a second-choice full-back.

City return looks impossible

Cancelo Guardiola

The idea of Cancelo returning to City seems impossible given how things ended with Guardiola. According to the book ‘Pep’s City’, there were three major flashpoints between the defender and coach during their three-and-a-half years together in Manchester.

Cancelo wanted to leave the club soon after arriving when he was not getting in the team and a year later had to be encouraged by assistant Juanma Lillo to put more effort in.

The final straw for Guardiola was when Cancelo reacted badly to being dropped for an FA Cup tie against Arsenal and was visibly disengaged in the tactical team talk. According to one report, Cancelo put on headphones and started listening to music during one of Guardiola’s pre-match briefings.

Guardiola is said to have told chief executive Ferran Soriano and sporting director Txiki Begiristain: “Cancelo better be gone by the end of the transfer window for the good of the team.”

Cancelo has not pleaded for forgiveness, far from it. He has accused Guardiola of “telling lies” and said City were “a bit ungrateful to me when they said that, because I was a very important player in the years I was there.”

He is right about that. Cancelo was one of City’s best players in the 2021-22 season, his performances at left-back, including seven assists and one goal, earning him a bumper new contract. He also made a strong start to the next campaign, scoring twice and notching four assists in the first 12 games.

But Guardiola still harboured doubts about his defensive weaknesses, leading to the coach redesigning his back four, playing Nathan Ake ahead of him in pursuit of more solidity. Even leaving aside his personal differences with Guardiola, Cancelo would have no place in his current team due to Josko Gvardiol settling in superbly in his debut campaign and Ake remaining a reliable and versatile back-up.

Guardiola refused to comment on Cancelo’s future when pressed this week, merely stating the club would make a decision on him at the end of the season.

Not an attractive proposition

Barcelona Athletic CANCELO

The club would naturally prefer to move the player on permanently and pocket a transfer fee, albeit a reduced one. But as they found out last summer, Cancelo is not an attractive proposition for many clubs. He turns 30 at the end of the season, representing little on-sale value, and is earning massive wages.

His salary, even if he were to take another pay cut, means only a few clubs in Europe could afford to sign him. And given his defensive frailties, he represents poor value for money in an era when clubs are feeling the heat from domestic and European financial fair play rules.

His personality has also been called into question, and not just by Guardiola. Bayern’s former sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic accused Cancelo of “not training or playing as imagined”, while then manager Julian Nagelsmann also admitted he had had to talk to him about his attitude in training.

And at Barca he has made negative headlines for arguing with autograph hunters outside the club’s training ground. Cancelo claimed that the autograph hunters were not real fans and sold their wares online but the overriding image was of a player mouthing off against supporters from the window of his expensive car. Not the image Barca want to project with its motto being ‘More than a club’.

Running out of chances

Joao Cancelo Barcelona Porto Champions League

Sticking with Barcelona looks like being Cancelo’s best hope of staying among European football’s elite but it remains to be seen whether the Catalans can stomach another season with him, or if an offer arrives from elsewhere for a permanent deal which takes City’s fancy.

City’s Premier League rivals such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Newcastle would have the financial power to sign him, but having seen him wobble in the biggest games as well as the baggage that accompanies him, a return to England looks unlikely.

The Saudi Pro League, which became the destination for Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte when they left City last summer, is a possible exit route, albeit an unattractive one for Cancelo from a sporting point of view.

Barca is where Cancelo feels he belongs but he is running out of chances to prove it.