João Cancelo's Bitter Experience at Al-Hilal After League Triumph

João Cancelo did not wait long after lifting another league title to reopen an old wound.

Fresh from celebrating Barcelona’s 2025-26 La Liga triumph, the Portuguese full-back has laid bare the bitterness behind his short and sour spell at Al-Hilal, accusing the Saudi club’s hierarchy of misleading him over his place in the squad.

“They did not tell me the truth”

Cancelo arrived in Riyadh as a headline signing, a Champions League-level defender parachuted into a project built on star power and ambition. The fit looked obvious. The stay was anything but.

Speaking to DAZN, the former Manchester City defender detailed how trust broke down almost immediately around one fundamental issue: his registration.

“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,” Cancelo said.

The decision left him on the outside of the squad picture, a high-profile import suddenly surplus to requirements because of the club’s foreign-player quota. The fallout, he suggested, landed squarely on his shoulders.

“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,” he added.

The words are sharp, but the tone is controlled. Cancelo clearly feels wronged, yet he stops short of open warfare.

Career reborn in Barcelona, future still tangled

On the pitch, his response has been emphatic. The loan move to Barcelona has revived his career at the elite level. He has played a major role in a title-winning campaign, restored his reputation, and reminded Europe of his value as a modern, attacking full-back.

Off the pitch, the situation is far less clean.

Al-Hilal may have pushed him out of their immediate sporting plans, but they have not cut the financial cord. Reports indicate the Saudi club are unwilling to sanction a free departure and have set a €15 million price tag for any permanent move.

That figure sits at the heart of the current standoff. Barcelona want to keep him, but only if he arrives as a free agent. For a club still walking a financial tightrope, paying a significant fee for a player nearing 32 is a luxury, not a necessity.

Al-Hilal see it differently. They invested in a marquee defender and, despite the breakdown in trust and the registration saga, they intend to extract value.

Quota problem, narrow path

The same “foreign-player quota” issue that pushed Cancelo to the fringes in Saudi Arabia has not disappeared. It still shapes Al-Hilal’s planning and continues to block an easy solution.

On one side sits a club that did not register him when it mattered. On the other, a player who has publicly accused decision-makers of failing to tell him the truth, yet insists he bears no grudges and defines himself by his word.

That last detail leaves a narrow, intriguing possibility: if a permanent transfer does not materialise and the numbers do not move, could there be a way back?

A reintegration into Al-Hilal’s squad would be complicated and, by any measure, unlikely. The quota squeeze remains, the trust has been damaged, and Cancelo has found a footballing home that suits him in Catalonia.

But the market is ruthless. Barcelona want him only on their terms. Al-Hilal want a fee. Between those two hard lines lies a defender who has just proved, again, that he belongs at the very top level.

The next move will say as much about modern football’s power dynamics as it will about João Cancelo’s future.