The BIG reasons why João Cancelo said GOODBYE to Europe

[Music] back in January of 2023 men city were on track for a potentially historic season and following their FA Cup victory over Arsenal Guardiola told Shiki beerain and Fen orano quote for the good of the team Jan better be gone by the time the winter market is closed less than a year earlier Canelo was one of the best fullbacks in the world as he helped to modernize the role even further but now from the having graced the greatest CL plan alila doing the most with that video eh it's like cyberpunk 2077 meets Star Wars but anyway Jean celo had always been viewed as a great fullback sure his defensive lapses would get him into trouble at times but what he offered going forward was typically more than enough to make up for it just look at the collection of clubs that he has represented in his career Benfica I mean barely at the senior level Valencia inter Juventus Man City Bayern Munich Barcelona you can certainly find a much much worse resume than that but where he was fighting to be one of the best fullbacks in the world at one time and hey at times getting close to that title while he was playing that inverted fullback SL midfielder role at city in the present he was left with Saudi Arabia as his next destination away from the top of football and of course it goes goes without saying you aren't exactly losing at life when you are making something like I I don't know 15 million EUR per year but we're talking about the sporting side of things here of course and also there's some Choice from him as well if he wanted to take on Lower wages no doubt he could find something in Europe but recently he's had some issues he had that loan to Bayern and they didn't bite he had that loan with Barcelona and they didn't bite he had burned a bridge at Manchester City already so they didn't want to keep him around now he's off to alhilal and what went wrong man the guy just turned 30 this year let's go over the peaks of Canelo the deficiencies he has and some attitude problems that saw him booted out of the best team in Europe just before they won the [Music] treble before we get to the fights with pep that's what want to see eh I know I think it's important to remember something about Canelo because it sort of explains who he is as a player both the good and the bad it will help you understand him more so Canelo arrived at Benfica when he was about 13 years old joining from his local side Beren in 2007 when he arrived there he was of course a Winger yes another Winger turn fullback and while in the academy and playing for benfica's bside he began playing more and more as a fullback back why his coach at the time hder krishang had seen something in him and bet Canelo that if he changed to a fullback he would become one of the top five fullbacks in the world to be fair he wasn't wrong Helder krishang with the crystal ball well Helder also revealed some more about Canelo at that age when he spoke with the guardian as he said quote the versatility is great for xan because he is happiest when he has the ball when he was young when he did not have the ball he did not want to play if we did an exercise with ball possession and his team had the ball foran it was like candy but when they lost the ball it was boring for him he would ask why don't we have the ball why do I need to suffer like this why do I need to close down Elder you've killed the man without knowing it I'm joking of course but when you couple these quotes with some of the things we'll go over later well you can understand why I brought them up anyway Helder also said that he worked with Bernardo Silva and Ruben diage as well but there was something different about Canelo and to be completely fair to the guy a lot of clubs saw him as a special player as well because he was special there are certainly deficiencies to his game defensively which perhaps the quotes from held or shed light upon but he has always been an absolute weapon going forward far more than just a fullback that overlaps now and then he was part of the attack from defense from Benfica Canelo moved to Valencia despite making just two appearances for benfica's senior side yes fortunately for him or unfortunately for him depending on how you want to look at it Jean celo was one of George Mendes's golden geese he took the once popular Benfica to Valencia pipeline that so many other talents rode from Benfica to Spain from there he went to inter on loan where the Milan Club wanted to keep him but couldn't get the €35 million EUR needed in time to beat Juventus to his permanent signature after a single season with Juve he was part of that Danilo deal with manchest City that saw the Brazilian head in the other direction at the time it looked like city were absolutely ripping off uve and they kind of did but in the end Danilo has turned out to be a good servant to juuve so it's not a complete ripoff is it also with the figures involved juuve still got an okay deal at Manchester City Canelo thrived even as recently as the 2022 23 season started extremely well for City and was integral to guardiola's back line though he was typically played as a right back he was played as a left back as well and was excelling as an inverted fullback floating into Midfield and utilizing his vision and incredible passing ability to carve out chances for his teammates you'll probably remember that travella assist he got against bruo Dortmund as he set up earling Holland for the winner in that Champions League group stage match incredible stuff by the October International break of 20122 Canelo was the only Defender to start every single premier league and Champions League match for city as has been the case no matter where he was canel was never really a defensive Behemoth he wasn't known for his tough accurate tackling or how he was always in the right position to stop and attack before it starts due to his great defensive awareness instead he was more the ideal representative of how the fullback had evolved over the last few years becoming an important part of any team's attack there was a while where he really was flirting with the title of best fullback in Europe and with the way he was evolving at Manchester City as a left back that roams into the Midfield to Ping passes around it was at that time reasonable to think that eventually he would be the best fullback in the world if he could limit those defensive lapses which he was doing a decent job of at city for the most part at least even at Bayern Thomas tle said that a permanent move wasn't possible but quote it wasn't for football reasons we had Davies back from injury and signed Raphael Guerrero Canelo helped us a lot he's a fantastic footballer I'll have more on his time there later as there are a couple of small ish tidbits regarding his attitude but as big tkes said big Tommy tkes it wasn't necessarily a football decision the interpretation of that would be that it was more of a financial decision or a mix of Financial and attitude on his loan at FC Barcelona we didn't hear about any attitude issues besides when he got angry at a bunch of supporters who wanted his autograph saying they weren't real fans and that they just wanted to sell off his signature for profit maybe they did but what we did get was a host of defensive errors that were extremely costly to Barcelona he started out fine he said the right things as far as wanting to stay at Barcelona because it was a dream he scored some goals he assisted others and he was at fault for plenty unfortunately man was looking more like a Winger than a Defender sometimes I think just play him as a Winger but anyway there were matches against Jona vial and Granada where he switched off completely at times and was at fault for goals that Barca conceded two of those matches Barcelona ended up losing against PS with Barcelona already down a man he made a nonsense tackle on Usman demele in the box that led to a penalty I mean he didn't have to do that dembele wasn't even heading toward the goal in that moment against Real Madrid he lost track of Lucas Vasquez completely leaving kubar out to dry and forcing him to put in a tackle that led to a penalty he lost track of Vasquez again in the second half for roal to equalize and eventually win 32 after that Real Madrid ran away with first place in the league so it was certainly a really really poor run and perhaps made it easier for Barcelona fans to understand why they weren't trying to sign him again mind you financials plays a huge part in that as well but the performances didn't exactly make him completely irresistible or a must- sign player for them so let's rewind for a second let's go back to Manchester City a move that shocked us all really when it transpired that xia Kella was going to be leaving on loan to go to Bayern Munich kind of out of nowhere at least to the public Canelo was sent off to Bayern Munich for the remainder of the 2022 23 season yes the season that City finally won the Champions League that's got to hurt for Canelo as he hasn't won the Champions League and in light of his move to Saudi likely never will at least not the European one he could have had a treble under his belt at city but maybe he'll get that in Saudi Arabia there was plenty of speculation as to why canel was sent to Bayern with the only constant being that he and Guardiola had some sort of falling out it's quite surprising to think think of that given Canelo had two goals and an assist in the Premier League he had four assists in the Champions League so what happened between them well in a book called pep City the making of a super team by Paul balos and Lou Martin they reveal that Canelo and Guardiola have actually clashed quite a bit throughout the years the first time in 2019 having just joined Manchester City Canelo wouldn't have expected to be a starter right from the gecko but he had a stretch in October of 2019 where he was St in matches three in a row until he lost his place to Kyle Walker again and opportunities became slim according to Bosa Martin Canelo threatened to leave the club due to a lack of opportunities already keep in mind it's not exactly out of the ordinary for Guardiola to restrict minutes for new signings but anyway during the return to pandemic ball in 2020 guardiola's assistant Lilo had to convince Canelo to try to stay and fight for a place eventually convincing Guardiola and Canelo to try playing the Portuguese fullback on the left rather than the right that was a master stroke as we all know how well Canelo adapted to playing on that side of the pitch and how important his adverted role would become for City that wasn't the end of the clashes though in 2022 when Canelo was playing inconsistently high peaks of Brilliance followed by performances where he was a shambles defensively Guardiola did as any manager or coach would and benched Canelo not just for a couple of Premier League fixtures against wolves and Tottenham but in the FA Cup fourth round against Arsenal as well and this is where the trouble began Canelo wasn't engaged at all in Pep's pre-match tactical brief for his players he wasn't supportive of his teammates and was only thinking of himself according to the book after this match Guardiola spoke to Faron Sano and Shiki beerain saying quote for the good of the team Jan better be gone by the time the winter market is closed so they had 4 days to find a for Canelo Sorano spoke with Balo and Martin for the book and told them quote it's all about making the right decisions for the team as a whole we came to this club determined to make good decisions and create a team with the right values and the right character we had to maintain those standards it should also be noted that while he was at Bayern nagles men had to have a conversation with him about his training standards nagles said that he had to lift his standards and that the conversation went over well however we also saw him miss a few matches with Hassan Salah amidzic saying quote lately he hasn't been training and playing quite as had been imagined just to keep in mind but anyway to show both sides of the story from the city side of things the city perspective Canelo replied to these kind of claims that alleged he was angry that Nathan a and Rico Lewis were suddenly ahead of him in the pecking order he also pointed to his commitment to City by bringing up that he was robbed and attacked in his home in Manchester in December of 2021 and still showed up to play against Arsenal the next day facial injuries and all and just a quick note so that we aren't mixing up timelines here that robbery was from the season before Canelo was sent to Bayern on loan so the robbery happened in the 2021-22 season his breakdown with Guardiola began in December of 2022 during the 2022 23 season and he was sent on Loan in January of 23 he brought up the robbery to remind people of his commitment to city as that no doubt would have been a horrific experience I can't even imagine and then to leave his wife and daughter at home while he went away to the amorites really really difficult in regard to him being jealous of his teammates in January of 2023 Canelo also said quote lies were told I've never been a bad teammate for them and you can ask either a or Rico I don't have any superiority or inferiority complex towards them but that's the manager's opinion I think man city were a bit ungrateful to me when they said that because I was a very important player in the years I was there I never failed in my commitment to the club to the fans and I always gave everything no doubt his history from earlier angry fits would have worked against him in City's eyes it seems like the January 2023 incidents were the straw that broke the camel's back you know however this didn't seem like it was something that Canelo couldn't have recovered from that is if he wanted to recover relationship with Guardiola and the club I'm sure there's truth from both sides of this Clash but the net outcome now is that Canelo is an alhilal player the start of his fall came in 2022 where patchy form caused him to hit the bench no matter that happens to anyone right but that patchy form continued at Barcelona we're playing in an inferior team to Manchester City and in a system where his mistakes are much more drastic and he was exposed more than in City system he may have lost some good faith amongst top clubs who would have previously jumped all over his signature when he was at his Peak the things that clubs could have looked past on the pitch were reaching a point where Canelo began representing a Winger more than a Defender and an expensive one at that his wage demands may have been an issue to be fair to him he did take a wage cut to go on loan to FC Barcelona and who's to say he wouldn't have done that for another top European side but I think it's fair to say also that his breakdown with Guardiola caused this chain of events where now he's found himself in Saudi Arabia life is apparently pretty good there for footballers in Riyad and the cash will help ease any heartburn he may get from looking back on what could have been in Europe so I'm curious guys let me know how you will remember Canelo because for me he's one of those it could have been so much more cases you know but hey like we said in the intro his career is still a massive win he's played for top clubs in Italy Germany England in Spain well Valencia fallen off a little bit for sure but they are certainly historic Club you can throw Benfica in there as well but most of his appearances were for the B team so it it doesn't really count for much anyways thanks for watching guys bye [Music]