James Garner has named former Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan as the hardest player he has come up against.
After spending seven years at the Manchester club, the German joined Barcelona as a free agent during the previous summer transfer window.
Having ended his period at City by captaining them to a historic Treble, Gundogan has found himself being mentioned by one current Premier League player who became one of the many who couldn’t stop Pep Guardiola’s side from winning another league title last season.
Garner says Gundogan is the toughest opponent he’s faced
Speaking in a recent video shared on Everton’s Tik Tok channel, Garner had this to say when asked who the toughest opponent he has faced is.
He said: “Gundogan last year. I just couldn’t really get near him and he ended up scoring two and getting an assist as well.”
Looking back over the 3-0 win against the Toffees that Garner is referring to, Gundogan had just 43 touches of the ball in the 78 minutes he was on the field but was able to have such a significant impact in terms of the result.
This display earned the midfielder a strong match rating of 8.9/10 from SofaScore, making him the highest-rated player on the day, making it easy to see why Garner has now said that Gundogan was the toughest opponent he’s played against.
Later on, the Germany international went on to further showcase how much of key player he was for the Citizens by scoring both goals in their 2-1 win over Manchester United in the FA Cup final.
Since joining Barcelona, the 33-year-old has scored five goals and delivered six assists in 25 La Liga appearances, once again showing how useful he is in terms of providing the occasional goal contribution from the middle of the pitch.
