Man City now ready to sell €60m star to Man Utd in January as Xavi ‘far from reality’, says Pep
Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City were so desperate to be rid of Joao Cancelo in January that they would have allowed him to join Manchester United.
Cancelo made the shock move from City to Bayern Munich on loan having fallen out with Guardiola over a lack of game time.
Barcelona were also reportedly to be interested with managee Xavi claiming they had an offer for the Portugal international ‘blocked’ in the winter window, though City insist they did not receive a bid for the player.
Speaking at a charity gold event, Guardiola insisted Xavi had been “misinformed” over a January bid for Cancelo, revealing that they would have listened to any offers – even if they had come from bitter rivals – for a player who “had to leave”.
“I think they [Barcelona] have informed him very badly. He is far from reality,” Guardiola told Spanish reporters.
“The reality was that we decided that he had to leave and we didn’t care where he was going, even if he wanted to go to United, which is our rival. There is his agent and the clubs they agree. I won’t say that they deceived him but that they misinformed him.”
Guardiola said the decision to move to Germany was made “by the footballer and Bayern” but reports suggest the Bundesliga side won’t be taking up the option to make his move permanent, bringing Arsenal into the frame.
But transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims Barcelona are leading the race for the 29-year-old.
He said: “In other Arsenal news, I’m aware that some fans are asking me why it’s gone a bit quiet on the Joao Cancelo story. All I can say for the time being is that Cancelo is one of the players appreciated by Arsenal, and there have been talks between the club and the player’s agent, but Barcelona are the favourites.”
On Cancelo’s future, Guardiola added: “This is a matter of Txiki [Begiristain, Sporting Director], of City, of his representative and of the club that loves him. I have no idea [why he didn’t sign for Barcelona]. We didn’t get any offers.”
