New Delhi: Manchester City have reached an agreement for their second transfer of the window, striking a deal for Barcelona midfielder Ilkay Gundogan to return to his former club where he spent the most successful years of his career. The former German International left the club on a free transfer after his contract expired last year to join Spanish giants Barcelona but now returns just a year into his Spanish adventure.
Gundogan left the Citizens after successfully guiding the club to their first-ever UEFA Champions League title, making them treble winners in the process. The German rejected a contract extension at the Etihad to complete a dream move to Barcelona and quickly established himself as one of the best players at Spotify Camp Nou. He went on to make 51 appearances in the season under Xavi, playing in 36 of the 38 La Liga matches.
The 33-year-old also managed to score five goals for the club while providing 14 further assists in a disappointing season for the Catalan club. Xavi was replaced by Hansi Flick at the end of last season and it was expected that Gundogan would continue to play an integral role at the club under the new coach, considering Flick had made Gundogan the Germany National Team captain during his tenure as Germany manager.
🚨🔵 Ilkay Gündogan back to Manchester City, here we go! Deal in place with German midfielder to join on contract valid until June 2025.
Agreement reached after positive talks in last 48h and Pep Guardiola said yes, as revealed yesterday.
Gündogan will leave Barça for FREE. pic.twitter.com/XqkDZlMEtk
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 21, 2024
However, suddenly there were rumours linking him with a move away from the Blaugarana and his omission from the first matchday squad didn’t help quell those rumours. This led to City organizing a deal to get their former captain back to the club and manager Pep Guardiola green-lit the move as well. Gundogan had a two-year contract with Barcelona which the club agreed to terminate, to allow the player to rejoin Manchester City for free.
While the move is sure to send Manchester City fans buzzing, seeing how amazing the midfielder was for the club, it is an equally puzzling move from a Barcelona perspective. It doesn’t make sense for a club like Barcelona, who are currently struggling to get new players on board, to let go of one of their best players from last season for nothing. Especially since he already had a pre-existing relationship with the new incoming manager.
The only reason that Barcelona would’ve had to offload Gundogan is their inability to register new players. The Catalonians have only made one major signing in the window and that is the arrival of UEFA Euro 2024 winner Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig and they are currently unable to register the player given their financial crisis. Ilkay Gundogan was reportedly earning over £300k per week, which amounted to over £15 million per year.
This yearly wage amounted to more than 5% of the club’s total wage bill and getting that figure off their books would create the space for Dani Olmo to be registered. Gundogan’s move to Manchester City helps Barcelona achieve that and given Olmo plays in the same role as the German, it wouldn’t be as big of a loss for the Catalan club as it looks like to the naked eye.
Gundogan now returns to Manchester City where he made over 300 appearances for the club, scoring 60 goals and providing 38 assists in his seven years at the Etihad. He went on to win a total 14 trophies with the club, including five Premier Leagues and one UEFA Champions League.
Former Manchester City midfielder has agreed to rejoin the club where he spent seven years of his career, only a year after leaving the club to join Barcelona. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
