He is not coming – Pep Guardiola does not want £60m player to join City’s pre-season tour 

He is not coming – Pep Guardiola does not want £60m player to join City’s pre-season tour

Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, looks on prior to the Premier League match between Manchester City and Burnley FC at Etihad Stadium on J…

Pep Guardiola is reportedly not keen for one player to join Manchester City’s pre-season, with a report sharing the names of two clubs interested in signing him.

 

City are yet to sign any players this summer, and there also have not been any sales.

 

But there could be some activity on both fronts very soon.

 

Regarding players who could be leaving, most of the talk has been about Ederson, with Saudi Pro League club Al-Nassr hopeful of singing the Brazilian ‘within a week’.

 

Should Ederson depart, then Stefan Ortega is expected to become the new number one.

 

Another player of interest to the Saudi Pro League is Joao Cancelo, and one report in Spain has made an interesting claim.

 

Pep Guardiola doesn’t want Joao Cancelo around for Manchester City pre-season, as two interested clubs named

Joan Cancelo of Portugal dribblese the ball under the pressure from Theo Herdandez of France during the UEFA EURO 2024 quarter-final match between …

Photo by Kaz Photography/Getty Images

It has been claimed by SPORT that Pep is not overly keen to have Cancelo around for Manchester City’s pre-season.

 

Some players have already been back at the CFA and others will return on Monday which is when pre-season officially starts for City. Later this month, the club will then fly to the US for a four-match tour across multiple cities.

 

 

Players will be returning at different stages.

 

But one man Pep doesn’t want is Cancelo, whom he reportedly fell out with midway through the 2022/23 season over game time.

 

Cancelo, who signed for City for £60 million, has had loan spell with Bayern Munich and Barcelona, and is not in the plans of the manager.

 

 

He wants to return to Barcelona, but the Spanish giants cannot afford him which makes the situation difficult for City.

 

It was recently claimed that City were talking to two clubs from Saudi Arabia about Cancelo. Apparently, they hope that one of these clubs can divert Cancelo’s gaze away from Barcelona.

 

SPORT say the two clubs from Saudi are Al Ahli – Riyad Mahrez’s club – and Al Ettifaq.

 

All eyes will be on that City plane for pre-season

It is going to be very, very interesting to see whether Cancelo will be on board that plane when City jet off to the US later this month.

 

This may well be a case of SPORT attempting to stir the pot.

 

Guardiola has actually already said publicly that Cancelo would ‘have to’ come back for City’s pre-season. He said (via Daily Mail): “It has to be the best for everyone. The two clubs will sit down.

 

“He is our player and, if an agreement is not reached, he will have to return in the pre-season.

 

“If he wants to stay here [at Barcelona], and the clubs agree, it will be done again.”

 

Despite those comments though, Guardiola may privately hope that a deal to take Cancelo away from the club is done before the players go to the US.

 

Seemingly, there is still absolutely no chance of a reconciliation.

 

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