Pep Guardiola's efforts in December and January to get his squad back into shape after the winter World Cup became more and more exasperated, and reached an unexpected boiling point with Joao Cancelo.
Relations between the pair reached such a low that the player frustrated at being left out of the team one too many times - got into a heated argument with his manager during City's preparations on matchday and then went back for another pop.
City's manager, as ever, ultimately won; Cancelo was dramatically and drastically shipped to Champions League rival Bayern Munich for the second half of the season, to the surprise of just about everybody in the league. As Premier League leaders Arsenal had strengthened their squad in the January window, City looked to have weakened theirs in an extreme risk to save and recover the harmony in his squad.
Guardiola had never faced such a public challenge to his authority at City, and while Cancelo was never going to win out against the manager he was senior and popular enough within the squad to leave a question mark over whether the team would also suffer in the fallout. This was a side struggling too, with Erling Haaland looking short of form and fitness and untested teenager Rico Lewis preferred to Cancelo and Kyle Walker in the search for rhythm and control in the team.
Importantly, the club hierarchy fully backed up Guardiola even as a limp defeat at Tottenham soon after left them feeling all but out of the title race. Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain were all there in North London to commiserate with their manager and reflect on how to turn things around. That relationship would prove important hours later when the Premier League charges dropped.
This story is from the May 21, 2023 edition of MEN on Sunday.
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This story is from the May 21, 2023 edition of MEN on Sunday.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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