Ilkay Gundogan ended his trophy-laden seven-year stay with Manchester City by agreeing to join Barcelona on a free transfer on Monday. The Germany midfielder’s last act as a City player — and as the team’s captain — was to lift the Champions League trophy, which completed a treble of major titles for the English club.
Now, he is heading to Spain on a two-year contract for a new experience, even though Pep Guardiola wanted to keep the 32-year-old Gundogan — the first signing of the City manager’s era from 2016.
“This club made me realise all my dreams and I will forever be thankful for this opportunity,” Gundogan said. “I will carry City always in my heart. Once a blue, always a blue.”
Having missed out on securing the return of Lionel Messi, Barcelona made the signing of Gundogan a priority to add some experience to a midfield already containing youngsters Pedri González and Gavi Páez, two of its pillars going forward, but no longer including veteran leader Sergi Busquets, who is leaving the club.
Frenkie de Jong also played an important role last season for Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández, despite efforts by the club to sell him in the offseason of 2022.
Barcelona has set Gundogan’s buyout clause at 400 million euros (about $435 million).
In a statement, the Spanish champions described their latest signing as a player “who reads the game to perfection” and “one of the world’s best midfielders of the last decade or so.”
Gundogan’s arrival comes while debt-ridden Barcelona are still struggling to meet the Spanish league’s financial rules. Only recently were they able to find a way to officially register Gavi as a first-team player. It is widely expected that the club will need to sell players to reduce its expenses, and the addition of Gundogan will only add to that burden unless compensated by exits.
City were reportedly only offering Gundogan a one-year deal, whereas he wanted a longer contract for some security for his family.
Nevertheless, Gundogan will go down as a City great, not just for being the team’s captain in its greatest-ever season but because of some of the crucial goals he scored and performances he delivered in the midfield, where he could play box-to-box, as an anchorman or — in his favoured role — as a player supporting the striker.
No goals were more important than the two he scored to complete City’s late comeback from 2-0 down to Aston Villa on the final day of the 2021-22 season, winning the team another league title.
After joining from Borussia Dortmund, where he was a Bundesliga champion in 2012, Gundogan won five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four English League Cups and the Champions League with City.
No one quite embodied the totality of Guardiola’s ideals like Gundogan, no player has been more in tune, more in sync with his manager’s vision of how he wants the game to be played and at what pace and what tempo.
Guardiola has often spoken glowingly about Gundogan’s innate sense of where the goal is, but it was another attribute that the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach cherished most in the player: Pausa. It is a term the Spanish and South Americans apply to those players for whom time stops and everything makes sense, who bring order to the chaos, who can put their foot on the ball, even if it is for the most fleeting of moments, and wait for just the right time to pick a pass or speed up or slow down the tempo of a game.
“He has played a huge part in the successes we have enjoyed in recent seasons. Ilkay’s intelligence, leadership and commitment to the club — both on and off the field — has been an inspiration to everyone,” City director of football Txiki Begiristain said.
