After Manchester City beat Manchester United 2-1 in the FA Cup final, Rio Ferdinand reserved special praise for Ilkay Gundogan.
The well-known pundit took to his show, ‘Vibe With Five’ to laud the £20 million (Guardian) man as an all-round midfielder as well as his penchant for stepping up in the biggest moments.
Despite Rio Ferdinand witnessing his Manchester United side get beaten by Manchester City, all he could do is applaud the brilliance of Ilkay Gundogan.
Rio Ferdinand raves about Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan
The 32-year-old has been getting his fair share of praise recently and rightfully so, as he has registered six goals and two assists in his last six games.
After the German international scored a brilliant brace to seal City’s double, Phil Foden said that he is ‘one of the best players’ he has ever played with and branded him as a ‘clever player.’
Now, Rio Ferdinand has lavished praise on Ilkay Gundogan, as he pinpointed how he often goes under the radar.
“The person that I think needs talking about is the captain, Gundogan. I think he’s been immense. We talk about [Erling] Haaland, rightly so. We talk about [Jack] Grealish, rightly so. We talk about [Kevin] De Bruyne, rightly so. [John] Stones recently as well, all rightly so.”
Rio Ferdinand emphasised why Ilkay Gundogan is so vital to this Manchester City side, saying, “But Gundogan, when it’s mattered, he has come up trumps, either with goals, performances, the control of games, the pace and tempo goes through him and Rodri a lot of the time. And he defines what everything’s good about this team.”
“He’s calm under pressure, never seems like with a hair out of place. He’s just there, man!”
“In the three positions he plays, I don’t see a chink in the armour in any of them. He can play as a pivot or a double pivot, deep lying midfielder, can control the pace of the game, looks brilliant in it.”
Ilkay Gundogan is the perfect midfielder
Rio Ferdinand is right in explaining just how complete Ilkay Gundogan is.
It is fair to say that Gundogan is the perfect midfielder as he is elite in every phase of play, whilst having the versatility and tactical intelligence to operate in all three positions in the middle of the park.
Be it during the 2018/2019 season where the five-time Premier League winner filled in as a No.6 and thrived in Fernandinho’s absence, his rise as a goalscoring midfielder in a more advanced role in the 2020/2021 campaign or his general position as a No.8 where he is one of the very best.
