LALIGA
João Cancelo went to Bayern after Madrid rejected the transfer
The Portuguese defender said ‘yes’ to the Bavarians after finding out that Los Blancos would not sign anyone in the winter market.
One of the big moves of the recent winter transfer window was the departure of João Cancelo (28 years old) from Manchester City to Bayern Munich. The Bavarian team managed to seal a deal for a player that Real Madrid had their eye on for the summer of 2023.
However, the lack of movement from the Madrid board has ended with the Portuguese wide man in the Bundesliga (arriving on loan with an obligatory purchase option of €70 million). But why didn’t he go to Madrid?
The simple reason of Madrid’s view of the January window. It is curious that when Bayer Leverkusen was interested in the services of Fran García (23), the Spanish club acted quickly, sealing his return after the end of this season. With João, however, there were things that held them back.
Madrid had followed Cancelo for a while
It was at the beginning of the season when strong rumours began to appear that Madrid had started their plan for the 2023-24 season. One of the priorities was to reinforce their full-back positions. Carvajal’s injuries and Mendy’s weak performance indicated that those positions had to be strengthened.
One of the names underlined in red was that of João Cancelo, who Los Blancos have been following since he played for Valencia between 2011 and 2014, the year in which he was loaned to Inter Milan, before being bought for €40 million by Juventus a year later. Cancelo certainly had the approval of Ancelotti, who knew him from his time in the Premier League.
João’s strong personality
It was Italian Fabrizio Romano who explained why the Portuguese footballer ended up in Germany, reported by the channel iMiaSanMia. Barcelona had also been interested in him, but in his case, Cancelo’s salary is what has prevented the operation from being carried out.
João Cancelo asked to leave the English team after his return from the World Cup. The footballer had a clash with Guardiola at the beginning of the year when he was substituted in a game against Chelsea.
The full-back was taken off at half-time in the match against Chelsea, which led to a sense of friction with other teammates. During the World Cup he had another serious altercation with the then Portuguese coach, Fernando Santos, due to the lack of minutes he played in the tournament. Now he will have minutes at Bayern, and has already made his debut and grabbed his first assist.
LaLiga Santander 2022/2023
| Classification | PTS | WM | TM | LM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Barcelona | 50 | 16 | 2 | 1 |
| 2Real Madrid | 45 | 14 | 3 | 2 |
| 3Real Sociedad | 39 | 12 | 3 | 4 |
| Upcoming matches | |
|---|---|
| Mallorca - Real Madrid | S-05/02 08:00 |
*Data updated to date Feb 3rd, 2023