Manchester City kick off their Premier League campaign today against Chelsea, and some fans have been talking about former captain Ilkay Gundogan leading up to the game.
Pep Guardiola‘s side return to competitive action today at Stamford Bridge and are looking to start the season in the right way.
Pep will pit his wits against his former assistant Enzo Maresca, who succeeded Mauricio Pochettino at the Blues earlier this summer.
City tend to start seasons slowly, and Pep has already suggested that could be the case again. If anything, he did that to take a bit of the pressure away from his players.
City don’t have a big squad at the moment, having only signed Savinho this summer.
Julian Alvarez has been sold to Atletico Madrid, and Oscar Bobb sadly picked up a serious injury in training earlier this week. Kalvin Phillips has also been loaned to Ipswich Town.
So there’s a slight lack of bodies at the moment, and last night there were some interesting reports emerging in Spain about former City captain Ilkay Gundogan.
Ilkay Gundogan asks to leave Barcelona with his future now in doubt
It has been claimed by SPORT that Gundogan has asked to leave Barcelona.
There have apparently been tensions between the player and the club in recent weeks, with Barca apparently taking the stance that they would sell him if a good offer came in.
But Gundogan had been happy, and ready to see out the contract he initially signed with the club.
He was left out of the squad for Barca’s game with Valencia yesterday, and it seems the player’s future is now in real doubt. The player has interest from clubs in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Man City fans make Ilkay Gundogan demand
Gundogan is a City legend.
The German maestro enjoyed seven brilliant seasons at the Etihad, and made huge contributions to the club’s success over the years.
Signed for just £20 million by Pep, he proved instrumental for City and had many amazing moments in the shirt, and captained the club during the Treble-winning season.
His exit in the summer of 2023 left a lot of fans upset, as he was still playing so well despite his advancing years.
Now, amid the new reports coming out of Spain, some fans want to see him brought back.
Some want Gundogan swap deal involving Cancelo
And there are some City fans who feel there is an opportunity here for the club to be smart.
Obviously, there has been a lot of speculation about the future of Joao Cancelo this summer, with the player keen on a return to Barcelona.
But City and Barca have struggled to come to an agreement thus far.
Despite Pep appearing to actually open the door for Cancelo to potentially play again for City, some fans believe a swap deal is there to be done to bring Gundogan home.
Gundogan back to City would be amazing
It would be one of the stories of the summer if Gundogan ended up returning to City.
Many fans hated the fact he left because there were suggestions that he did want to stick around – but an agreement just couldn’t be reached.
Clearly something has happened at Barca, and it looks like there is a chance he could actually move on after just one season.
He was still at the top of his game last term and he could surely still do a job for City if the club did fancy moving for him.
Nothing has really changed since he left and the team still play in the same way. It would be amazing to see and perhaps a convenient deal to do if the player was also interested in coming back.
