Manchester City are set to complete their second signing of the summer, with Ilkay Gundogan returning to the Etihad Stadium.
The club have swooped for the German, following Barcelona’s decision to offload the player to free up their wage bill in order to get new signing Dani Olmo registered.
Gundogan had initially wanted to see out his contract with the Spanish giants.
But once it became clear to him that they were keen to offload him, he explored his options and quickly decided he wanted a return to City.
He will become City’s second addition this summer after the earlier signing of winger Savinho from Troyes.
This move has gone down extremely well with most City fans.
It has all rather come out of the blue, and Shaka Hislop has now explained why it has surprised him.
Shaka Hislop thought Man City would have signed a young midfielder
Gundogan was spotted last night in Manchester city centre having food with Pep Guardiola, after flying to the UK earlier in the day.
It has been a mad week since those initial reports about Barcelona wanting to offload the player, and City wasted little time sounding out whether they could be an option for him.
Gundogan had interest from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. But he feels he can still play at the top level.
He will reportedly sign a one-year deal, with the the option for a second year.
For Shaka Hislop, this move comes as a surprise – although he does not doubt the quality Gundogan still has.
He said on ESPN FC: “Man City going back in for a 33-year-old, albeit a 33-year-old who served them so wonderfully well up to a couple of years ago. That’s a little bit of a surprise to me. I thought Pep Guardiola would go in a different direction, a younger direction.
“That for me is the bigger head-scratcher. Not that Gundogan isn’t a good player. Not that he won’t serve Man City very well. I just didn’t think that once he left, Guardiola would go back in for him.”
Gundogan move just makes sense
City moving for Gundogan just makes sense.
City probably have did want to sign a younger midfielder, but the prospect of signing Gundogan has come up and the club can shelve plans to land a younger star until next summer.
Gundogan knows the club, the manager, the players and the system and is going to be able to slot right in and pick back up where he left off.
We saw last season that Gundogan is still playing at a very high level – the only reason he has left Barcelona is due to their financial situation and nothing to do with any kind of decline.
He’ll be able to provide quality, cover and leadership.
