Man City team reporter: Pep does not want Cancelo in the squad for next season

According to TA reporter Sam Lee, Guardiola does not want Cancelo in the City squad for next season, but right now there is no alternative to getting on with it.

Cancelo almost losing an easy ball, getting it back and immediately pulling off a nutmeg, then firing off a shot, sums up how he has come to be known — compared to the almost mythical solidity of the defenders who contributed to City's treble last season, he is a maverick.

He is more than that, of course, and he got a good assist for Haaland at the very end of the game but his stock has fallen among the fanbase and, it must be said, within the club too.

Guardiola's praise for City's 'proper' defenders after winning the Champions League final, while presumably not pointed, did highlight a major difference in the back line compared to the days when Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko (a player who Guardiola dearly loves) were part of it.

The same cannot be said of Cancelo given the circumstances of his exit — Guardiola desperately wanted him gone in the winter transfer window after some extended sulking around the camp. It is hard to envisage any sort of redemption story.

“He is here,” Guardiola said on Saturday. “Joao has been so important for us in the past. He is back here and is part of the group. We will see what happens.”

It was a perfunctory answer and although Cancelo got 45 minutes here in Tokyo, there is not a lot of appetite for him to get more pre-season game time. There have been reports that Saudi Arabian clubs rejected the chance to sign him when approached by his agent, Jorge Mendes, which, if true, significantly narrows his options.

At this point, it is hard to see City getting a good deal even for someone who is a top player, but if they can get any deal at