Barcelona are reportedly losing hope of signing Ilkay Gundogan this summer, with Manchester City apparently now offering the player a longer contract.
Speculation continues to swirl around the German maestro.
The 32-year-old’s current deal with City is up at the end of the season.
Fans have been worried that Gundogan could leave in favour of a new challenge.
Realistically, we will probably not here anything definitive in this situation until City have played the Champions League final and the season is over.
Potentially, what happens in those two games could have bearing on Gundogan’s future.
But Mundo Deportivo have reported this morning Gundogan could be set to stay put.
They cover the story because Barcelona have a strong interest in the player. And a few weeks ago, Fabrizio Romano reported that Barca have liked him for a long time and think he’s underrated.
Mundo claim that in recent days in the offices of the Camp Nou, officials have become fearful of missing out on Gundogan.
That’s because City have now apparently offered Gundogan a contract that is longer than the one-year deal they had initially presented.
This has supposedly caused some uncertainty and even some pessimism at Barca with regards to the club signing the player.
It is then stated that Gundogan – who cost City just £20 million – would only sign with Barca if he was sure that there would be no contractual problem.
A positive update on Ilkay Gundogan contract situation as Barcelona fear missing out
This is an interesting claim from Mundo, who have covered the Gundogan story fairly extensively from a Barca perspective.
Seemingly, the length of the new contract has been the hold up the negotiations.
Perhaps now, Gundogan may be willing to committ.
It is not made clear if City have offered a two or three-year deal. Perhaps it could even be a one-year deal with the option of another. It could even be a one-year deal, with a further year that will be triggered automatically if a certain amount of appearances are made.
Hopefully, this suggests the star will be sticking around. Because he’d be a very big miss if he did leave.
