Manchester City may not have seen the last of Joao Cancelo this season despite shipping him to Germany.
Cancelo has gone on loan to Bayern Munich for six months in one of the biggest moves of the January transfer window, seizing the opportunity to join the Bundesliga champions after falling out of favour at the Etihad. City were willing to sanction the deal without needing to find a replacement, confident that they already had the cover in place.
Speaking at an introductory press conference, Cancelo did not rule out a return to Manchester next season but insisted he wanted to be focused on doing as well as possible for his new team. The 28-year-old said he was fit to start playing immediately, and his plans could collide with City in the Champions League in the coming months.
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While Premier League rules forbid on-loan stars from featuring against their parent clubs, there is no such rule in the Champions League; Patrick Roberts played against City back in 2016 under those terms. Not only is the rule in place, but UEFA put their foot down when Chelsea attempted to force Atletico to pay a fee if they wanted to use on-loan keeper Thibault Courtois against them in a knockout game.
City, therefore, will have no power to stop Cancelo from playing against them should Bayern draw City in the later rounds of the Champions League. Pep Guardiola's side face RB Leipzig in the last-16 while Bayern have a tricky test against Paris Saint-Germain.
Barcelona found about that rule to their cost in 2020, when they sent Philippe Coutinho to Bayern on a temporary deal only for him to score twice against them in an 8-2 humiliation in the Champions League semi-finals.
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