10 things you might not know about João Cancelo

Barça and Xavi Hernández have a new addition to the culer first team. João Cancelo is now a Barça player and so to get to know him a little bit better we have 10 things you might not know about the latest blaugrana signing. 

1. João Cancelo is the 11th Portuguese player to represent the Barça first team. The first was Luis Figo back in 1995 and he was followed by Vitor Baia (1996), Fernando Couto (1996), Simao Sabrosa (1999), Ricardo Quaresma (2003), André Gomes (2016), Nelson Semedo (2017), Francisco Trincao (2020) and João Félix (2023) plus Anderson de Sousa ‘Deco’ (2004) who, although born in Brazil, played for the Portuguese national team. 

2. In the dressing room at Barça, Cancelo will find two former team mates, İlkay Gündoğan and Ferran Torres. At Manchester City Cancelo played alongside the German midfielder in 123 matches and the Spanish striker on 30 occasions. 

3. The defender will be the only member of the squad who was born in the year 1994. 

4. Cancelo is the fifth player to join Barça from Manchester City. Those who have made the same journey are Eric Garcia (2021), Ferran Torres (2022), Gündoğan (2023) and Sergio Agüero (2021). Denis Suárez joined from Manchester City in 2013 but he was officially brought in for the Barça Atlétic squad. 

5. The right back has won several league titles but there is still one that eludes him. In Germany he won the title with Bayern Munich, in Portugal with Benfica, in England with Manchester City and in Italy with Juventus but in Spain the domestic championship escaped him during his time with Valencia. 

6. On an international level, Cancelo has won the UEFA Nations League with Portugal. For the national side he has made 44 appearances, scoring eight goals. 

7. The defender has had a great career up to now and his success is dedicated to someone special: his mother. In 2013 she died in a car accident in which the new Barça signing was also involved, Cancelo suffering minor injuries in the tragedy. After almost giving up football, the defender decided to dedicate all his success to his mother, an inspiration who has helped him get where he is now. 

8. During his career he has had several different shirt numbers. From 50, 70 and 25 at Benfica, 2 at Valencia, 20 at Juventus, 22 at Bayern and 27 at Manchester City. However, the number he has worn most is surprisingly the number 7; in the 2017/18 season with Valencia and in the same campaign with Inter and in 2022/23 with Manchester City. At Barça the current number 7 shirt is owned by Ferran Torres. 

9. The new Barça right back has faced his new club on several occasions, all coming as a Valencia player between 2015 and 2017 with a record of 3 defeats and just one win. 

10. Finally, in his first game against the blaugranes, Cancelo shared the pitch for some 13 minutes with his new coach Xavi Hernández. The defender came on in the 67th minute minute of the game before Xavi was replaced by Sergi Roberto some 13 minutes later.