Joao Cancelo opened up to the media about his relationship with Pep Guardiola and why he was forced out of the club. Here’s five more players that have clashed with Guardiola.
What did Cancelo say about Guardiola?
Joao Cancelo was enjoying a trophy-laden spell at Manchester City as one of its best performers, until an unexpected series of events unfolded last year that saw him loaned out to Bayern Munich.
Cancelo – now at Barcelona – told A Bola about the situation that until now had been shrouded in mystery. He said: “Lies were told. I’ve never been a bad companion for them and you can ask either Ake or Rico.
“I don’t have any superiority or inferiority complex towards them, but that’s the manager’s opinion.
“I think Man City were a bit ungrateful to me when they said that, because I was a very important player in the years I was there.
“I never failed in my commitment to the club, to the fans and I always gave everything. I remember a time when I was robbed and attacked and the next day I was playing at the Emirates against Arsenal. These are things you don’t forget, I left my wife and daughter alone at home, terrified.
“People will only remember this because Mister Guardiola has much more strength than me when he says something and I prefer to keep to myself. I prefer to know that I am telling the truth, I feel fulfilled with what I did.”
Cancelo could well be on a collision course with his former employers, with Barcelona on the opposite side of the Champions League quarter-final draw.
Players That Have Clashed With Pep Guardiola
Sameul Eto’o
Pep Guardiola has fallen out with a number of players, and in most cases, it typically remains a mystery as to why.
His ascension from the B team to the Barcelona hot seat in 2008 signalled a period of change that initially unsettled fans, with the likes of Ronaldinho and Deco deemed surplus to requirements.
It appeared Eto’o fell into the bracket too, until his fellow teammates, including Lionel Messi, persuaded Guardiola to keep him in his plans.
Although the Cameroon international would go on to win a treble that season, his relationship with the Spaniard is somewhat acrimonious.
He said: “My experience with Pep at Barcelona was what it was, but on a personal level it wasn’t what we hoped for. Many players have said the same about him.”
Yaya Toure
Guardiola and Yaya Toure’s relationship is notoriously icy. The Ivory Coast midfielder worked under Guardiola during spells at Barcelona and Manchester City but Guardiola never sought to nurture their relationship back to good health.
In an interview with France Football, Toure claimed the situation was purely racial hatred: “When you realise that he has problems with Africans, wherever he goes, I ask myself questions.”
Toure has redacted the comment since but the two have yet to make up.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Ibrahimovic is one of the greatest strikers of his generation, but his ego-driven persona was a far cry from the humble collective of Barcelona’s quiet and cautious superstars.
Although the 53-year-old was clearly an admirer of Ibrahimovic with Barcelona splashing £60m on him in 2009, he was loaned out to AC Milan before permanently signing for them in 2011.
Ibrahimovic has since made his grating relationship with Guardiola public. He said: “You bought a Ferrari, but you drive it like a Fiat.”
“As a coach, he was fantastic. As a person, I’ve no comments about that, that’s something else. He’s not a man, there’s nothing more to say.”
Joe Hart
2016 perhaps signalled the end for Joe Hart’s upward trajectory. His goalkeeping errors cost England in the Euros as they were beaten 2-1 by Iceland in the round of 16.
Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City that same summer and almost instantly dropped Hart in favour of Claudio Bravo ahead of the new season.
Hart felt that Guardiola never gave him a chance to prove himself. Revealing on the The Stiffs Podcast, he said: “It was a two-hour conversation that kind of ended with him saying, ‘I can’t see this working’”
“I thought that might be the idea. ‘I don’t agree with you,” he said.
“I’ll be the first person to be proved wrong but what I see in you isn’t what I want from my goalkeeper.”
“I was like, ‘It’s all very well saying that, but I’ve never been asked to do the kind of things I know you like goalkeepers to do, so I think it’s only fair I be given the opportunity.”
Hart’s career went downhill rapidly as the two-time Premier League winner is now Celtic’s number one.
Cesc Fabregas
Cesc Fabregas is another word class player that didn’t see eye-to-eye with Guardiola. The Spanish manager shoved Fabregas in the back of the neck during a match in which Valencia hammered Barcelona 5-1. Since then, Fabregas has opened up on his relationship with Guardiola.
He said: “No, no, with Pep nothing at all. I don’t know if the disappointment with Pep is mutual. Things happened, but I prefer not to talk about it.
“Pep was my idol since I was a child. It is him I have learned the most (from), perhaps, since I was four until now.”
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