The fairytale return is happening with Ilkay Gundogan set to return to Manchester City.
After scouring Europe for a midfielder, Gundogan has fallen into Pep Guardiola’s lap. Barcelona need to offload Gundogan, just 14 months after signing him on a free from the Blues, to balance the books and the former Germany star is coming back to the Etihad.
Gundogan, 33, set his heart on returning to City as soon as Barcelona told him they would have to let him go to accommodate the £50million signing of Dani Olmo and Guardiola has given the deal the green light. Barcelona are letting him go on a free to facilitate a deal and City have offered him a one-year contract.
Talks have advanced smoothly over the last couple of days after Gundogan was not interested in the offers from Turkey or Saudi Arabia because he knew City wanted him. For them, it is a no brainer and Gundogan has the football IQ Guardiola demands from all of his players.
Gundogan was a huge part of Guardiola’s success story at the Etihad and arrived with him in the summer of 2016. He helped City win 12 major trophies during his seven years at the club and captained them to their historic Treble in 2023.
He made 304 appearances, scoring 60 goals and contributing 37 assists. His last act for City was to hoist aloft the Champions League trophy and complete Sheikh Mansour’s 15-year journey to the top of football. Guardiola wanted another body in midfield to take some of the burden off Rodri’s shoulders, especially with Kalvin Phillips joining Ipswich on loan.
Guardiola and Phillips are never going to hit it off and the City boss aimed another subtle dig at the former England midfielder when he said he likes to play centre-half, where he was used in pre-season, because all of the play is ahead of him. He would never say this about Gundogan and he has the type of football brain the Catalan loves his players to have.
Gundogan may not have the legs to get about the pitch as much as he did, but he can still read a game and play a pass from a deeper position. He scored five goals and contributed 13 assists for Barcelona to show he can perform at the highest level.
He also made enough appearances to trigger a 12-month extension to his existing two-year deal. Gundogan retired from international football on Monday, giving him valuable breathing space in City’s 47-week season, which will culminate in the expanded FIFA Club World Cup next summer.
He will still be on a fair whack for his wages and he was on just over £300,000-a-week at Barcelona. City can easily justify this and this was another summer when they were in the black because of the number of players they have offloaded.
They were adamant despite all their tens of millions in the bank, they would only move for the right player - and Gundogan is certainly that.
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2024-08-21T12:22:20Z dg43tfdfdgfd