João Cancelo joins Al Hilal in Saudi Professional League

João Cancelo formally joins Al Hilal from Manchester City on the advice of Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach, Jorge Jesus. Jesus stated that he wanted to add his fellow countryman Cancelo to the full-back position to strengthen it.

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In what is regarded as one of the biggest signings of the Saudi Pro League season, João Cancelo will play for Al Hilal for the following three seasons.

Cancelo joins Al Hilal in a deal worth an initial £21 million ($28 million), with the 30-year-old set to earn £15 million a year. Al Hilal has agreed to pay Manchester City a transfer fee of 25 million euros in three installments to acquire Cancelo. Two further payments are scheduled for 2025, and the first payment is payable immediately following contract signing.

What João Cancelo said

“I had many very special moments during my time here at [Man City],” Cancelo said.

“I would like to thank my teammates, the coaches, all the staff at City, and the fans for everything during my time here.”

Additionally, this purchase takes the place of Saud Abdul Hamid, who moved to the Italian team AS Roma. Prior to joining Al Hilal, Abdul Hamid played right back, a position that Cancelo is qualified for because of his ability to play both right and left back.

João Cancelo’s Career

Cancelo played for Bayern Munich the previous season and Barcelona the season before, and when he returned to the Premier League, it seemed certain that he would go.

In 2014, Cancelo started his professional career in Portugal with Benfica, where he was also a player under Jorge Jesus, the team’s manager at the time. After that, he relocated to Valencia, Spain, where he played for two seasons (from 2015 to 2017) before going on loan to Inter Milan for the 2017–18 campaign. After that, Cancelo played for Juventus for a season in 2018-19 before moving to Manchester City in 2019.

He now joins a host of stars at Al-Hilal, including Neymar, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Ruben Neves, and Aleksandar Mitrovic.

• Photo courtsey Al Hilal X