Danny Murphy has claimed that Ilkay Gundogan has confirmed his place as one of Manchester City’s best players.
The midfielder lifted his first Premier League title as the captain of Pep Guardiola’s side last month and his fifth since joining the club in 2016 for a fee of £20m.
Last weekend then saw the 32-year-old score both goals in City’s 2-1 win over Manchester United in the FA Cup final, which has set him up nicely to lead his team out in Saturday’s Champions League final against Inter Milan.
His recent efforts in a City shirt have since led to him being on the receiving end of some heavy praise from one pundit in particular.
Murphy says Gundogan is one of the best
Speaking on talkSPORT, Murphy said this about Gundogan when discussing his three standout individual sports performers of the past week.
He said: “I’ve got to give Gundogan a mention. I think he’s cemented his greatness at Manchester City. Obviously, he scored the goals on the last day of the season [last year] but the two goals in the cup final against their main rivals, come on.
“Forget whether he’s out of contract, or whatever, he’s now one of the greats isn’t he, for sure.
“Just on that, I was talking to somebody, he’s got to go down as one of the best Germans we’ve ever had in the Premier League hasn’t he when you think about it.”
Prior to the FA Cup final, Gundogan scored some pivotal goals in the games before City were crowned Premier League champions again, particularly by scoring two goals against Everton at Goodison Park and against Leeds United at the Etihad Stadium.
This highlights how capable the skipper is of delivering in the important moments, as he did when he scored two goals against Aston Villa on the final day of the 2021/22 league campaign that secured the title for City in a rather dramatic fashion, as Murphy mentioned.
This weekend will see the midfielder have another opportunity to deliver on the biggest of stages for his side when they take on Inter in Istanbul, where a win would make him the first City captain to lift the Champions League, which would undoubtedly cement his place as one of the greatest to ever play for the club.
