Update: Done deal! Bayern Munich sign Joao Cancelo on loan from Manchester City

Um excuse me, but WHAT? According to Florian Plettenberg, who is more reliable than clockwork, Manchester City fullback Joao Cancelo will join Bayern Munich on loan this winter. We have zero other details right now, but this could end up being the biggest move of the winter if true.

Cancelo mainly plays as a right-back, but is also more than capable of playing as a left-back for Pep Guardiola’s men. With both Lucas Hernandez and Noussair Mazraoui set to miss large parts of the campaign with injury/illness, it’s a move that makes perfect sense. Except, HOW did Brazzo get City to agree to this? Some kind of Guardiola connection? We didn’t even know that Cancelo was on the market. He’s played 26 games for Man City this season accumulating over 1,800 minutes (via transfermarkt).

If you need more sources, well, the story was originally reported by David Ornstein of The Athletic. He mentions the potential presence of a buy-option included in the deal, but cannot confirm anything yet. Meanwhile Cancelo’s limited minutes in recent weeks has been seen as the driving factor behind the deal.

No news on the loan fee right now. The financials of the deal are a mystery. We can assume that Bayern will pay the full salary for the player during his loan here, which is how these deals generally tend to work. Six months of salary isn’t a lot — hopefully it means that the board has seen the three consecutive draws that team has had in 2023 and decided that the coach needs some help.

Or maybe there’s trouble brewing over the horizon? Maybe Mazraoui’s health is worse than thought, or Matthijs de Ligt’s legal problems in Italy are about to catch up to him. Or maybe Benjamin Pavard is up to something (again). Whatever it is, we’ll keep a close eye on this news in the coming hours, so stay tuned!

Since the cup tied rule no longer exists, Joao Cancelo would be able to play for Bayern Munich vs PSG in the Champions League next month.

Update

According to Florian Plettenberg, Cancelo is on his way to Munich for a medical TODAY. Meanwhile, apparently Benjamin Pavard is not in shape? Who saw that coming? Definitely explains some stuff ...

Update #2

It’s a done deal according to David Ornstein! The buy option is set at 70 million euros.

Update #3

People were actually meme-ing about this on Twitter when suddenly Plettenberg came out and confirmed it — FC Barcelona were interested in Joao Cancelo and were beaten to it by Bayern Munich. How many times can one club take an L from the same opponent?