Wow Joao! Cancelo has earnt Guardiola’s trust

JOAO Cancelo is in uncharted territory at City.

A £60m signing, who could have been out of the door in just six months, has since established himself as one of Pep Guardiola’s most trusted players, and with Ruben Dias and Ederson sitting Saturday’s game out, the right-back has now played more minutes than anyone else in the squad this season.

Benched only for the Wycombe match, the Portugal international certainly ticked plenty of boxes in the exceptional bracket as he became the first player to reach 10 starts in the new campaign.

Cancelo has done more revolutionising than most in a position that has had quite the glow-up since the days of Gary Neville, and from the off against Burnley he was one of City’s best attackers as he linked up with Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva on the right.

A lovely bit of play slipped Bernardo through in the box for the first goal and, minutes later, he was unfortunate not to make it two when he peeled off his man at the back-post but saw his volley from Kevin de Bruyne’s chip saved by Nick Pope.

You would do well to find a defender as good on the ball as Cancelo, with superb vision accompanied by a delightful touch to enable him to play through, over or round opposition backlines.

And yet, if it is easy to see why he is so essential in a Guardiola team he is also never going to bring what Kyle Walker can at the other end of the pitch.

He started off fine, but soon the pace and guile of Maxwell Cornet became a problem. The nippy forward raced onto a Dwight McNeil through ball typical of the deliveries that Walker would lap up as last man, only for Cancelo to lose out and need a good save from Zack Steffen to help him out.

A minute later, the rightback had his arms up in the air in exasperation after losing another 50-50 in City’s third of the pitch. In the second half, another lapse in concentration cannoned the ball back into the City box, and shortly after that he invited more pressure with a slack pass. Cancelo was hardly the only player guilty of being sloppy against Burnley, but at 27 years old it is unlikely his game is going to drastically change. He is probably always going to be remarkably good offensively and decent but occasionally susceptible in defence.

So far this season, Guardiola clearly thinks that the pros outweigh the cons.