Thomas Tuchel Joao Cancelo’s exit from Bayern Munich wasn’t for “footballing reasons”

Depending on who you’d ask, Joao Cancelo had a relatively decent loan spell at Bayern Munich after joining up with the Rekordmeister in the January transfer window from Manchester City. He tallied two assists from his first two appearances as a Bayern player, making his presence felt immediately, but he had sporadic periods out of Thomas Tuchel’s starting eleven selections, which left him quite frustrated at times.

Cancelo’s falling out of sorts with Pep Guardiola was well publicized before he made the loan move to Bayern. He’s a player that wears his heart on his sleeve and has had his bouts clearly making his frustration known to his managers and teammates, but there hadn’t been any abhorrent infractions in that department that were reported during his stay at Bayern. There was now buy-on clause in his loan deal from City, but they had valuated him around 70-million euros, which was a price that Bayern never really entertained the thought of paying for him on a permanent deal.

From Bayern’s preseason training camp in Tokyo, Japan, Tuchel was asked about Cancelo’s time at the club and the decision not to pursue a permanent acquisition of the right back, for which he said was not down to football reasons. “It wasn’t for football reasons. We had Davies back (from injury) and signed [Raphael] Guerreiro. Cancelo helped us a lot, he’s a fantastic footballer,” Tuchel explained when he was asked about Cancelo not being pursued on a permanent basis (via @iMiaSanMia).

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Based off what Tuchel said, it could be assumed that he felt Cancelo would’ve been a surplus to requirements in defense at Bayern, but the “football reasons” part of what he said could easily be taken out of context. Was there perhaps something brewing between the player and the coaching staff behind the scenes or in the dressing room? After all, he was brought in by Julian Nagelsmann shortly before he was sacked and then had to quickly adjust to life under Tuchel. That’s not to say that the former Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea manager isn’t a fan of the Portuguese international, but it’s clear that fe felt Bayern genuinely didn’t need him heading into the new season.

For now, Cancelo is most heavily linked with a potential move to Arsenal before the summer transfer window closes, but nothing concrete has happened on that front just quite yet.