Ilkay Gündogan, captain of Manchester City, has chosen Barça as the destination for the final stretch of his decorated career, in which the World Cup is missing the icing on the cake. When Germany won it in 2014, the Turkish-born midfielder was playing for Borussia Dortmund and had carved out the excellent reputation that has followed him ever since: intelligent footballer, connector of lines, shrewd for move and find spaces, confident with the ball and with an innate ease to break away, reach the area and surprise defenses. City owes some of its recent great successes to this finisher Gündogan, but his stability has been just as indispensable to set up and give continuity to the game. A serious back injury prevented him from playing in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but Pep Guardiola, coach of Bayern at the time, had him among his favorite players in the Bundesliga. When the Catalan coach began his cycle at the head of City in 2016, Gündogan was his first signing.
Gündogan’s decision is significant at a time of singular upheaval in the football market. Real Madrid have signed the Englishman Bellingham for 120 million euros, the first big signing of the season, and Kylian Mbappé has declared that his stay at PSG will end in June 2024, a strategic move that places him in a position of extreme strength this summer. Either PSG passes him on or next year he won’t receive a single euro. Mbappé will be free. Free to go where? All the signs indicate that he will land at Real Madrid, but the coming months are announced to be particularly turbulent. The tectonic waves caused by the Saudi dive into the professional golf circuit are beginning to register in football.
Mbappé will not play next season in Saudi Arabia, a golden destination for veteran stars and players who want to cover their kidneys with one last big contract, not to mention the world of intermediaries, excited about the juicy vein that opens up for them in the oil Jorge Mendes has a mine in front of him. He is starting to move players to the Middle East, such as the Portuguese Rubén Neves, who is not retired from football. The Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder has 26 years and a half of his career ahead of him. One or two seasons in Saudi Arabia, a lot of money and then we’ll see. What Mendes recommends in this innovative football commercial situation.
Gündogan will turn 33 in October, a perfect age to join the luxurious exoticism of Saudi football. Guardiola wanted him for one more season at City. He knows that an exemplary footballer is leaving, one of these who was a coach before becoming one. His silent ascendancy in the squad led him to the captaincy of the team. In the near future, Gündogan is expected to lead a good team. The new experience at Barça will suit him very well. Change the champion of Europe for a team that aims to occupy the place it has abandoned in recent years. The challenge promises.
Barça lacks the money to compete with Madrid or the main English clubs in the market ring, but the signing of Gündogan demonstrates its ability to attract a type of player: current, capable of bringing substantial qualities to the team and sustain the growth of the numerous group of young people who have stood out in the last two years. Lewandowski has fulfilled this role perfectly. Now it’s Gündogan’s turn, in another position, particularly critical of Barça, where the media have been and will be the banner of their footballing model. In this case, both sides congratulate each other: a player who knows Latin arrives at Barça and Gündogan shines in a team without City’s resources, but with a world to conquer.
