Sulker to superstar - the inside story of Joao Cancelo's rise to Man City greatness

There are few footballers whose fortunes over the past 18 months have changed as drastically as Joao Cancelo's.

Manchester City's Portugal full-back - as he has shown, it would do him a disservice to pigeon-whole him as merely a left-back - has been one of the stand-out players this season.

After enduring an up-and-down two years at the club, Cancelo has established himself as one of the best attacking and inverted full-backs to ever play in a Pep Guardiola team, some achievement given status of those who have preceded him.

His ability with both feet, his vision, finishing passing and ability to play as well in middle of the pitch as most midfielders, make him a gorgeous player to watch.

This wasn't always the case though, so how did Cancelo get to where he is today?

Like City teammates and compatriots Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias, he is a product of the Benfica academy, a youth set-up famous for producing some of the best attacking and most technically skilled talents in world football.

Born in Barreiro, a municipality situated across the Tagus river from Lisbon, Cancelo joined Benfica's setup when he was 13. Unfortunately for the club's fans, he made just two senior appearances before he was sold to Valencia in 2014, financial needs outranking on-field matters.

Even if he never truly 'made it' at his boyhood club, there is no doubting that his grounding came in handy when he began the arduous task of adjusting to life under Guardiola all those years later.

"It helped Cancelo adapt to City having spent so many years learning at a club that is expected to win like Benfica, and an attacking ideology where having the ball as long as possible is an important factor," Wivaldo Martins, a coach at Benfica's academy, told City