Sale of world-class defender worth £21m announced as Fabrizio Romano confirms second departure of Tottenham-linked star

Manchester City have confirmed the departure of Joao Cancelo for £21million, while a second defender move involving a star player with links to Tottenham has been completed, according to multiple sources.

Cancel spent the last 18 months on loan at Bayern Munich and then Barcelona after clashing with Pep Guardiola’s system changes.

Cancelo is a world-class player at both right-back and left-back, having been named in consecutive PFA Teams of the Season in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons. He was also selected in the FIFPro World XI in 2022.

However, his usefulness to Guardiola diminished dramatically when the Manchester City the boss began selecting central defenders in the full-back position.

Josko Gvardiol or Nathan Ake are often tasked with playing on the left side of defence, with Kyle Walker still struggling on the right, although the likes of John Stones and Manuel Akanji have also had their fair share of starts at right-back over the past 18 months.

In the early stages of the current season, Rico Lewis has been favoured, although he has been given the freedom to rotate and function as a de facto central midfielder.

The end result of Guardiola’s changes was that Cancelo was sacked and definitively sold to Al-Hilal.

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The news was confirmed on Man City’s official website, where the Portuguese expressed his gratitude to the club where he won the Premier League title three times.

“I would like to wish everyone at City every success for the future,” said Cancelo.

“I have experienced many special moments during my time here at this great club.

“I would like to thank my teammates, the coaches, all the staff at City and the fans for everything during my time here.”

Cancelo’s move has earned Man City €25m/£21m. He has signed a three-year contract that will earn him a net salary of €15m per season. That works out at around £240,000 after tax per week.

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Another Man City exit ‘completed’

Manchester City have completed another departure from the full-back ranks elsewhere.

Issa Kabore, best known for his superb season on loan at Luton Town last season, is joining Benfica on loan.

The 23-year-old Kabore has been linked with Tottenham after Ange Postecoglou’s team sold Emerson Royal to AC Milan on August 12.

“Tottenham would definitely want to close the gap because they have Pedro Porro, but they would need one more player,” Romano told GiveMeSport earlier in August.

“It is true that Kabore, a former Luton Town player at Manchester City, is valued by Tottenham.

“But I’m told he’s not the only option. So multiple options are being considered.”

However, Tottenham have decided not to take action on their interest in Kabore, with the player now set to join Portuguese giants Benfica on a season-long loan deal.

The news of the move was confirmed by both Fabrizio Roman and Mike McGrath of the TelegraphRomano declared that Benfica had ‘completed’ the transfer and signed off on the deal with a ‘here we go’ confirmation.

The loan period will be a straight loan and will not include an option to buy. Benfica will cover Kabore’s entire salary during the period.

Go to XMcGrath did acknowledge that Kabore was interested in the Premier League – possibly from Spurs, as Romano previously suggested.

Nevertheless, Kabore will spend the 2024/25 season in Portugal with Benfica.

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