On the afternoon of August 23 (Vietnam time), Man City's homepage officially announced the recruitment of Ilkay Gundogan from Barcelona on a free transfer.
The 33-year-old midfielder will sign a one-year contract with City, with the option of a 12-month extension. He left Camp Nou just one year after joining this team in June 2023.
To facilitate the transfer, according to The Athletics , Gundogan gave up the remaining 2 years of salary that Barcelona owed him. The German midfielder appeared in 36 matches in his first season at the Catalan team, but was informed that he was not in new coach Hansi Flick's plans for the coming period.
Therefore, recently, Gundogan spoke with Pep Guardiola about the possibility of returning to Manchester and the coach gave the green light for this move. He was the first player Guardiola recruited when he took over the club in 2016. The two sides have had a close relationship over the past 7 years, and the coach also trusted him to give him the captaincy from 2022.
In the summer of 2023, after his contract with the Etihad Stadium team expired, Gundogan completed the free transfer procedure to Camp Nou.
Before that, he had a total of 188 appearances for City, winning 5 Premier League titles, 2 FA Cups and 1 Champions League. Thus, Gundogan will be the second rookie of The Citizens this summer, after Brazilian player Savinho.
Fans hope Man City will add a new striker to the squad before the summer transfer window closes, after approving the sale of Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid for a record price (81.5 million pounds).
