Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo is reportedly set to join Bayern Munich on loan, with the Bundesliga giants agreeing to a deal that will see the Portuguese fullback sign for the German side until the end of the season.
According to the Athletic and Florian Plettenberg, the 28-year-old Premier League superstar will be heading to Bayern for the remainder of the campaign, with Cancelo recently losing out on his starting XI spot in the City squad following the breakthrough of Rico Lewis.
The defender was signed by City from Juventus in 2019 for a reported £60m and is regarded by many as one of the most complete fullbacks in world football. However, since the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Cancelo has found it hard to gain regular minutes under Pep Guardiola’s side, leading to this loan move to Bayern.
The Bavarian club are no strangers to signing big-name players on loan, with the likes of James Rodriguez and Phillipe Coutinho all spending a year at Bayern, with Cancelo now the latest superstar to sign for the German champions on a temporary deal.
Indeed, with Cancelo in need of minutes of Guardiola seemingly happy with his current options, sending the defender out on loan to Bayern makes sense on paper, especially with Julian Nagelsmann’s side in need of some sort of spark to kick-start their Bundesliga title defence.
Bayern signing Cancelo on loan is a risky move from Manchester City
City have the deepest squad out of any club in Europe’s top-five leagues, yet even for their standards, allowing a player like Cancelo to leave on loan is a risk that could blow up in Guardiola’s face if a fullback is to pick up an injury in the coming weeks.
As mentioned, Cancelo is arguably the best fullback in the world on his day, and with City now sending the defender out to. Bayern, Guardiola will be praying to the injury gods that nothing happens to the likes of Lewis, Nathan Ake or Kyle Walker.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
