João Cancelo Reflects on Al-Hilal Exit and Barcelona's Title Success
João Cancelo should have been in the soft afterglow of a title parade. Instead, with Barcelona’s 2025-26 La Liga crown barely banked, he chose to reopen one of the most contentious chapters of his career.
The full-back, reborn in Catalonia after a turbulent spell in Saudi Arabia, has laid bare the bitterness of his Al-Hilal exit, accusing figures at the club of misleading him over his role and registration.
“They did not tell me the truth”
Cancelo arrived at Al-Hilal as a statement signing, the kind of high-profile import meant to anchor an ambitious project. The reality, he says, was very different.
Speaking to DAZN, he stripped away the diplomatic varnish. “At Al-Hilal, unfortunately, I had people who did not tell me the truth. They told me I was going to be registered for the Saudi league list, and then, when the time came, they did not do it,” he said.
The decision left him on the outside looking in, a marquee name suddenly surplus to requirements, a victim of the club’s foreign-player quota squeeze. The defender knows how that story was framed publicly – and he clearly resents it.
“After that, I’m always the one left with the bad image… but at least I keep my word, and I would not trade it for anything. I have always been the same way. I am straightforward and I do not hold grudges against anyone.”
It is a pointed mix: accusation wrapped in calm, the criticism aimed squarely at “people who did not tell me the truth” while he insists he carries no personal vendetta.
A career revived, a future tangled
On the pitch, the move to Barcelona has repaired much of the damage. Cancelo has re-established himself at the top level, his versatility and aggression fitting neatly into a title-winning side. The noise that once surrounded his exits from Manchester City and then Al-Hilal has quietened, replaced by applause at Montjuïc and the promise of Champions League nights to come.
Yet the contractual reality is far messier.
Al-Hilal, who last year chose to leave him out of their sporting project, are now refusing to simply cut him loose. The Saudi club have placed a €15 million price tag on the defender, a figure that instantly complicates Barcelona’s hopes of making his stay permanent.
The same foreign-player quota issue that originally pushed him to the fringes in Riyadh still hangs over any potential return. On paper, that makes a reintegration unlikely. On personality, Cancelo leaves the door just a fraction ajar. His insistence that he holds no grudges hints at a player who, if forced back, would not arrive with open warfare on his mind.
Barcelona’s stance is far clearer. They want Cancelo – but only on their terms. A free transfer suits a club still working under strict financial constraints. Paying a substantial fee for a player Al-Hilal once deemed expendable does not.
So the standoff hardens. A defender who has just helped deliver a league title finds his next step dictated not by form, but by a balance sheet in Riyadh and a budget in Barcelona. For a player who values his word so highly, the question now is simple: whose promise will define the next move in his career – his, or the one he says Al-Hilal broke?
