Bayern Munich’s acquisition of João Cancelo on loan from Manchester City was the highlight of the club’s ambitious — and injury-precipitated — winter transfer window. But now, signs are increasingly pointing to an exit for the Portuguese fullback after half a year in Bavaria.
A report in Telegraph claims that Tuchel has failed to impress new Bayern manager Thomas Tuchel and has caught the eye of Mikel Arteta, who has been busy stockpiling former Manchester City players for his burgeoning Arsenal project.
But Bayern, if they should choose to keep Cancelo instead, have three advantages over the Gunners. First, Bayern have a €70M purchase option in their loan agreement, which they might negotiate down. Second, City were nearly outdone this year in the Premier League after supplying Arsenal with the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko. They may be loathe to keep that pipeline flowing. And finally, Cancelo has adapted to life in Munich already and integrated into the Bayern side.
With a run of recent starts, could it really be that Cancelo hasn’t impressed Tuchel? Still, it could come down to a matter of price. If City don’t prefer to help out their rivals once more, they might take it if Bayern are only willing to offer peanuts by comparison. And with Alphonso Davies, Noussair Mazraoui, Josip Stanišić, and potentially Benjamin Pavard in tow, the Bavarians have the more crowded situation at full-back.
