Last Thursday evening Pep Guardiola’s phone rang. The call surprised the Manchester City manager: it was a distraught Ilkay Gündogan.
According to sources close to the player and the Catalan coach, Gündogan was looking for shelter at Guardiola’s City. “Can I come back?” the former captain of the German national team asked him. The coach listened happily and even assured him that he would seek to mediate with the executives of the English club to help make his wish come true. And so it was. Today Gündogan is close to closing his return to Manchester. That is, returning to the team with which he won the Champions League in 2023.
Gündogan’s worries, which had begun much earlier, had worsened that same Thursday. At the Barcelona Training Ground, the player had met with Hansi Flick. The conversation was pleasant, but blunt. The coach explained to him that he was not a key player in his project. “Pedri is there and the club has just signed Dani Olmo. They are younger,” Flick explained. The coach’s attitude did not surprise Gündogan. Old acquaintances of the German national team, both were aware of his virtues and defects. And neither Gündogan was an admirer of Flick’s playing philosophy, nor was Flick willing to hand over the keys to the team to Gündogan. In short, the coach only revealed to him what the player already knew from the minute Barcelona chose the former Bayern Munich coach as Xavi’s heir.
A year ago, Xavi and Jordi Cruyff, then technical secretary, had been key in signing Gündogan for Barça. The coach convinced the player and the executive convinced the player’s agent and uncle. Gündogan went on to play a decisive role in the group, but also in the accounts: he became the third highest paid player, after De Jong and Lewandowski.
The challenge could not have been better for Gündogan: he was joining the club he had idealised since he was a child. However, in order to sign for Barcelona he had to reject the offer of a one-year renewal offered by Txiki Begiristain after Guardiola insisted that the German continue at City. But Gündogan, by then, felt that his time in Manchester was over.
But he didn’t want a luxurious retirement in Barcelona. It didn’t take him three months to show his ambition. After the first Clásico, he complained publicly about the indifferent attitude of some of his teammates. According to him, they didn’t seem affected by Madrid’s comeback. “I didn’t come here to lose like that,” he protested. It wasn’t the only time. When Barça fell in the Champions League quarter-finals, he went back to the attack. “It’s hard to say it, but in these crucial moments you have to be sure if you go for the ball,” Gündogan analysed Araujo’s expulsion against PSG. The Uruguayan felt singled out and the dispute was resolved with a friendly conversation between the two players.
Xavi and his staff were clear: they supported Gündogan. Although he was critical of the team’s approach at times, the German was a good player on the pitch: five goals and 14 assists in 51 games, one of the best figures of his career. “I wish I could have done more for Xavi,” lamented Gündogan after the coach announced his departure in February. The rest of the story is known: the coach changed his mind in April and Barça fired him in May.
In any case, and despite Flick’s arrival, Gündogan was willing to continue at Barcelona. He had already made this clear to his entourage, who had to turn a deaf ear to a tempting offer from Qatar. “I feel ready to continue competing at the highest level,” he stressed. Everything changed when he returned from the Euros: according to sources close to the player, the club had already activated the smear campaign. “He started to hear everything, that he is fat, that he earns too much, that he is old,” complain those close to the German.
The sporting management, for their part, were putting the sign up for sale. “Some players have to leave,” they commented from the offices of Sant Joan Despí; “one of them could be Gündogan. We do not rule out his departure.” The arrival of Dani Olmo increased the competition with Pedri and Gündogan’s presence was no longer necessary. Much less his salary in a club that has been struggling to balance the books for four seasons, without a definitive solution for financial fair play.
This summer, Barcelona signed Iñigo Martínez, Pablo Torre, Marc Casadó and Pau Víctor at the last minute. However, they were unable to resolve the financial puzzle that would allow Flick to bring Dani Olmo to Valencia. The coach did not complain about Olmo’s absence from Barça’s opening match in La Liga. On the contrary, he supported the sporting management. “Dani Olmo is not fit to play tomorrow, even if the registration is received. He joined very late. Everyone who plays has to be 100% fit and in top condition,” said the coach. A different version to that of the dressing room. “Dani was perfect. Pedri, who has just recovered from an injury, travelled to Valencia,” explains a Barça player.
“A crucial victory to start the season! Força Barça!” Gündogan celebrated Barça’s victory at Mestalla. He already knew that he was halfway out of the Blaugrana club. He was just waiting for City to support Guardiola. In Manchester they opened the door for him, although they set one condition: “We won’t pay a transfer fee.” In Barcelona they accept it.
It all started with a phone call and it will be resolved in the same way: Begiristain has to speak to Gündogan’s agent to finalise the contract. To the delight of Barça and Flick, Pep and Ilkay have already reached an agreement.
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