Pep Guardiola makes Joao Cancelo transfer admission as he confirms Portuguese outcast has returned to training with Man City

Cancelo is still under contract at City until 2027, despite not playing for them since January 2023 after falling out with Guardiola. He spent the last season on loan at Barcelona, having spent the latter half of the 2022-23 campaign with Bayern Munich. And he has been working alongside his former team-mates since returning from Portugal duty.

"He's training with us. We will see, maybe he'll stay, maybe go on loan. I don't know yet. He's training with us, behaving really well in the training sessions. He loves to play football. We will see," Guardiola told a press conference. Asked specifically whether Cancelo could remain with City for the season, he added: "It could happen, yeah."

Cancelo was one of City's best performing players in the Premier League title wins of 2020-21 and 2021-22 but his relationship with the coach soured after he was dropped from the starting line-up after the World Cup.

According to The Times, the Portuguese put on headphones and started listening to music during one of Guardiola's pre-match team talks. Soon after, the coach said to sporting director Txiki Begiristain: "Cancelo better be gone by the end of the transfer window for the good of the team."

Cancelo made a good start to his loan spell with Barcelona but made high-profile errors in their biggest games of the season, in the defeats by Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid.

Cancelo was not in the squad for the Community Shield against Manchester United but could be part of City's travelling squad for Sunday's Premier League opener at Chelsea. Oscar Bobb has been ruled out for up to four months with a bone injury while Rodri is unavailable as he has just returned to training.