Joao Cancelo, a defender for Manchester City, had interest from Barcelona but did not participate in the Community Shield.

Joao Cancelo missed the Community Shield, therefore Pep Guardiola would not confirm whether the defender would play for Manchester City this year.

After having a significant falling out with the management and spending the second half of the previous season on loan at Bayern Munich, Cancelo returned to the Etihad in the summer and took part in their preseason games in Japan and Korea. Josko Gvardiol, a recent acquisition, flew to London with the team to face Arsenal even though he did not participate in the match, but Cancelo was nowhere to be found.

When questioned if the full-back was in his long-term plans after the game, Guardiola chose to focus on the day rather than address the fact that the Portugal defender wasn’t at Wembley due to an injury. The coach stated, “He wasn’t here because he had to go home with the family.”

Kyle Walker, the only other senior full-back for City, has received an alluring offer to join Bayern this summer, so City will have to fight to keep him. However, City can be encouraged by the fact that the right-back is still with the Blues and led them in the Community Shield despite conversations between the two clubs over a fee.

Cancelo’s future at the Etihad remains uncertain, but his absence last season did not hurt the squad; he was away during the months when City truly found their form to win a historic Treble, and Rico Lewis was one of the players who stepped up to provide the team choices. Josko Gvardiol, a new £78 million acquisition, can also play centrally, something that Guardiola and the team’s sporting director Txiki Begiristain saw.