This summer, FC Barcelona made one of the best moves of this summer transfer window by securing the services of 2023 European champion Ilkay Gundogan. The German midfielder arrived free of any contract in the workforce of the Catalan club after 7 seasons spent in the jerseys of Skyblues.
In an interview with the German media BILD, the former captain of Manchester City spoke about the reasons for his departure from the English workforce. The 32-year-old almost never joined Spain and the city of Barcelona since his first idea was to continue the adventure with the English champions.
” I’m honest. And a lot of people don’t know that: in the end, it wasn’t a matter of a year or two. There were no problems with the length of the extension. City waited a relatively long time before the talks really intensified. If this had happened a little earlier, the situation would have been different. I don’t want to go into all the details, but that was pretty late in the season. »
And to add:“And when it comes to a Champions League quarter-final or semi-final, the players want to just focus on sport. I didn’t know what was going to happen next. I couldn’t plan anything. Pep’s appreciation was always there but officially there was no move from the club for a long time.
Words that could leave regrets for supporters of the English club. However, the German has adapted very well to his new club, FC Barcelona. Since the start of the season, Gundogan has started 4 times in the first 4 days. He plays as a right or left midfielder in Xavi Hernandez’s 4-3-3. If he has not yet found the net, the number 22 has already delivered two assists in La Liga.
