Barcelona star Joao Cancelo has, on Thursday, provided an insight into the thought process behind his summer decision to swap the Premier League for La Liga.
The subject of full-back Cancelo’s future, of course, took its place front and centre in the media headlines once more ahead of the new season.
This came after word was forthcoming that the Portuguese, fresh off a loan stint in Germany with Bayern Munich, had again been made available for transfer by Pep Guardiola and the powers that be at Manchester City.
Spanish champions Barcelona, in turn, quickly made known their interest in bringing Cancelo to the Camp Nou.
And, on the back of a lengthy saga, on deadline day earlier this month, the Blaugrana hierarchy at long last struck a deal.
The former Juventus and Inter Milan man has made the move to Catalunya’s capital on a temporary basis, for the duration of the 2023/24 campaign.
And, drawn specifically on whether or not he views the move as a ‘risk’, the defender admitted as much, owing to parent club Man City’s status as ‘the best team in the world’:
“Yes, it’s risky, but my life has always been a risk. I always like to take risks. For me, they are now the best team in the world and coming here was a risk, yes, but it’s Barcelona and when you get the opportunity from Barça you have to come.”
Cancelo continued:
“I have to thank everyone at City, I’ve had the best moments of my career there so far, I had the chance to be in last year’s FIFA World XI, which was another dream for me. And that’s thanks to my teammates at City, the coach, Pep, and his staff, who are a very good group, very united and you can see that.”
Joao Cancelo knows he’s taking a risk 😳
— GOAL News (@GoalNews) September 21, 2023
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