Bayern Munich make transfer decision on Man City defender Joao Cancelo

Bayern Munich have confirmed that Joao Cancelo will return to Manchester City this summer, opting against an immediate transfer following his loan spell.

The Bundesliga champions have decided that his £61.6m buy-out clause is not warranted. Cancelo secured his switch in January amid a rift with City boss Pep Guardiola.

He was brought in by Julian Nagelsmann but had a new head coach just nine matches into his stay as Thomas Tuchel took the helm during the March international window.

Cancelo started six of his nine games under Nagelsmann, recording a goal and four assists, but managed just two assists under Tuchel having started nine of his 12 outings. Two of those appearances came against parent club City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

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He featured as a second-half substitute in the first leg at the Etihad where he was heavily booed by some sections of the home crowd. His future at City remains unclear, having struggled for form before his new year departure.

Cancelo - who up that point had played the most minutes out of any City defender - was concerned about the amount of game time he was receiving after the World Cup as Nathan Ake usurped his spot for a period.

Ake and Mani Akanji were mostly played at left-back for the remainder of the campaign after Guardiola decided against bringing in a replacement with just 36 hours of the winter transfer window left.

Speaking earlier this month, Guardiola inferred he was keen to offload Cancelo in January, saying: "The reality was that we decided that he had to leave and we didn't care where he was going, even if he wanted to go to [Manchester] United, which is our rival."

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