City defender could well be off to Middle East
By Tom Vinall
According to high profile journalist Fabrizio Romano, Manchester City defender Joao Cancelo is close to a move to Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal.
He says the Saudi Arabian defending Champions have agreed a deal with City for a fee of around 25 million Euros after a verbal agreement.
Cancelo is still only 30, and could have a few years left in Europe yet, but the financial pull of playing in Saudi Arabia may well be too much to resist. He is also unlikely to feature much for City this season, so could see it as a way of playing regular games.
Al Hilal won the league at a canter last season, and he would be playing with international team mate Ruben Neves over there. You can see why he would be tempted.
The aforementioned Neves, Otavio, and Ronaldo playing their club football in Saudi Arabia has not stopped Portugal manager Roberto Martinez from calling them up to the national team, so that could be another tick in the box for Cancelo as he ponders his decision.
The Portuguese full-back had some good times in Manchester, but clearly fell out with Pep Guardiola in January of 2023, and has subsequently spent the last 18 months out on loan - initially at Bayern Munich, and then the entirety of last season at Barcelona.
In the time he's been away, the likes of Josko Gvardiol and Nathan Ake have gone up and beyond Cancelo in the pecking order at left-back for Manchester City. Even at right-back, his original position, the emergence of Rico Lewis further complicated any chances of Cancelo making his way back into the team at City.
Cancelo would be the second City player to join Saudi Arabia in recent times, with Riyad Mahrez swapping City for Al Ahli back in the summer of 2023.
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