After Toni Kroos, Ilkay Gündogan. German football loses another key player in its midfield, with the international retirement of the FC Barcelona player.
“After a few weeks of reflection, I have decided that it is time to end my career with the national team, explained the former Borussia Dortmund player.
I look back with great pride on the 82 international matches I have played for my home country – a number I could never have imagined when I made my senior national team debut in 2011.”
“My highlight was definitely the huge honour of being able to lead the team as captain at the European Championship on home soil last summer! After all these years, we finally managed to make the nation proud again. The fact that I was able to be a part of it makes me very happy.”adds “Gündo”.
Change in the club too?
At 33, the Gelsenkirchen native has nevertheless decided that it is time for him to say stop with the Mannschaft. “But even before the tournament, I felt a certain fatigue in my body and also in my head, which made me think. And the matches at club and country level do not decrease”he justifies.
At the club level, Ilkay Gündogan could also experience a change this summer. The player would have accepted the idea of leaving FC Barcelona to help the Blaugranas save the 20 million euros per year of his salary. A contact with Manchester City, his former club, would have already been established.
