Bayern Munich make early acknowledgement over Joao Cancelo’s future »

• Bayern Munich make early acknowledgement over Joao Cancelo’s future.

Bayern Munich has already acknowledged that when Joao Cancelo’s loan from Manchester City ends, he could be too costly to sign on a long-term basis.

Cancelo, who had made a name for himself as one of the top full-backs in Europe, left City in January after unexpectedly losing his spot in Pep Guardiola’s starting lineup.

For the first few months of the season, the Portugal international had been doing things as usual, but when club football resumed following the World Cup break, he was benched.

Guardiola has later acknowledged that a change in City’s playing style made after the World Cup resulted in other players being given more opportunities and Cancelo growing dissatisfied with his new position.

“After the World Cup, we had a pre-season and decided to play a little different,” the City boss said.

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“I liked what I watched, so I gave more time to other players. His personality, like mine, he loves to play. He trains the best but the situation, he doesn’t play much. In the last year, [he was] one of the players with more minutes. He needs to play to be happy, so we decided to let him go to Munich.”

The deal with Bayern was agreed as a loan until the end of the season, with a view to making it a permanent deal for €70m (£63m). Such a fee would make Cancelo the second most expensive player in Bayern’s history, behind only fellow full-back Lucas Hernandez at €80m.

However, for the German champions, it is more complicated than simply paying the money when the time comes.

“We play with open cards. The most important thing is that Joao feels comfortable in Munich and can perform in the second half of the season,” sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic told Bild.

“But we also told him clearly that this sum is difficult for us to imagine in the next few years.”

Cancelo made his Bundesliga debut against Wolfsburg at the weekend after making his DFB Pokal debut for Bayern against Mainz at the beginning of February. In each of the games, which Bayern won convincingly, he provided an assist.