Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski has revealed what he said to Ilkay Gundogan before he left Manchester City.
After winning the treble as City’s captain, the midfielder decided to join Barcelona as a free agent rather than sign a new deal at the Manchester club.
Having now linked up with his former Borussia Dortmund teammate Lewandowski at the Spanish side, the striker has shared some details on a conversation he had with Gundogan prior to his City exit.
Lewandowski shares Gundogan talks before City exit
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Lewandowski had this to say about the German and the discussion they had about Barcelona.
He said: “I only tried to tell him the truth. I have known Ilkay for a long time. When I spoke to him, he had not decided his future yet.
“I asked and he was still having doubts. We spoke about our players and everything around the club. About the city, the life there. I hope I made it easier to understand what it means to play for this club. He knows I spoke from my heart.”
During his time at City, the 32-year-old scored 60 goals and provided 40 assists in 304 appearances across all competitions, winning five Premier League titles along the way.
His spell at Dortmund with Lewandowski saw the duo feature in 77 games together but only make one joint goal participation.
Bearing in mind how Pep Guardiola shared on multiple occasions how keen he was to see Gundogan sign a new deal at the Etihad Stadium, he may not be too pleased that the Poland international, who he coached at Bayern Munich, was in the midfielder’s ear trying to lure him to the Camp Nou.
Now that the 32-year-old is set to start a new chapter in his career at Barcelona and City have brought in Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea as a replacement, it’s safe to say that everyone at the Manchester club will have been disappointed to see Gundogan leave, but will be thankful for what he did for the club while he was there.
