Joao Cancelo will reportedly start on the bench for Bayern Munich in their Champions League last-16 second leg against Paris Saint-Germain.
The Manchester City defender made the shock loan move to the Bundesliga giants on deadline day in the winter transfer window.
He had fallen out of favour under Pep Guardiola following a run of sub-par performances and made the move to Germany to seek more playing time.
Guardiola preferred Nathan Ake and Rico Lewis in the build-up to Cancelo’s departure, which was understandable given his form, but also surprising given his impact over the previous two seasons.
Cancelo got off to a brilliant start with Bayern Munich, providing an assist 17 minutes into his debut – which came only two days after he joined the club.
However, the 28-year-old has failed to start and finish a game for the Bavarians and was an unused substitute against Stuttgart on Saturday.
Cancelo was substituted at half-time of the Champions League win at PSG and will reportedly start on the bench for the second leg.
This is according to Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg, who claimed on Monday that Julian Nagelsmann is ‘likely’ to give the nod to 22-year-old full-back Josip Stanisic.
Nagelsmann has recently utilised a back three and the German coach believes Stanisic is better suited to the role of a wing-back, with Cancelo seen as a ‘typical right-back’.
Plettenberg claims that Cancelo is remaining ‘quiet’ but is unsurprisingly ‘frustrated’ by this decision and his lack of minutes in recent weeks.
Stanisic has featured 17 times across all competitions this season and played the full 90 minutes against Stuttgart.
There were reports of a fallout between Cancelo and Guardiola which led to the player’s City exit.
Both have denied that this is the case, though Cancelo did admit that the pair disagreed over what his role at the Premier League club should be.
The Portuguese international believes he “deserved” to be a regular starter for the Citizens, but Guardiola did not agree.
He said last month: “I respected his decision because I have to and this is a team of great footballers.
“But I think a player is always a bit selfish. Any player wants to feel important, wants to play and anyone who says otherwise is lying. A competitive player, like me, who aspires to win titles, just wants to play.
“It’s like Pep said, I need to play to be happy.
“It’s not a question of devaluing my teammates, because others are on the bench to play. But I thought I deserved to play and he didn’t.”
READ MORE: The Manchester United Quadruple nonsense is over for the ‘unstoppable juggernaut’
