Transfer Centre

Manchester City 'open to Ilkay Gundogan exit'

By Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter | 23 February 2023

Manchester City are reportedly open to allowing captain Ilkay Gundogan to leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Manchester City are reportedly open to allowing captain Ilkay Gundogan to leave the club at the end of the season.

The 32-year-old's future at the Etihad Stadium has been called into question as his current contract is due to expire in just over four months' time.

Gundogan became Pep Guardiola's first signing at Man City when he joined the club from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2016 for around £20m.

The midfielder has since established himself as a key cog in Guardiola's machine for nearly seven years, contributing with 52 goals and 37 assists in 286 appearances across all competitions.

Two of those goals inspired City to come from behind and beat Aston Villa 3-2 on the final day of the 2021-22 campaign to lift the Premier League title.

Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan wears a rainbow coloured armband on October 29, 2022 © Reuters

Gundogan – who was given the captaincy this season following the departure of Fernandinho – has won a total of 11 trophies during his time with the Citizens, including for Premier League titles and four EFL Cups, but his long-term future with the club is believed to be in doubt.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Man City are open to letting the Germany international run down his contract and leave the club for free this summer.

A separate report from The Mirror, meanwhile, claims that the Citizens are reluctant to meet Gundogan's demands by offering him a new two-year deal.

Earlier this season, Gundogan opened up on his future at the Etihad and revealed that he would prefer to remain with City as opposed to search for a new club this summer.

Speaking to German news outlet Kicker, Gundogan said: "We will sit down together in due course and exchange our ideas and plans, and then we will see what comes out of it.

"Football-wise, there is certainly still no better address than Manchester City under Pep Guardiola, and I think that will hardly change in the next few years.

Ilkay Gundogan celebrates scoring for Manchester City on August 13, 2022 © Reuters

"Of course, I would have liked to play a little longer in one or two important games over the last few months. That's not a secret. I am a player who always wants to play."

Meanwhile, Guardiola has insisted that Gundogan is free to decide his own future, telling reporters last week, "I think I know my opinion about Ilkay. What Ilkay has done against Aston Villa last season, he can do whatever he wants.

"He has the paradise already. So he knows exactly my opinion about him. The club knows it and it is a question for him and his agent. What is going to happen I'm pretty sure is going to be good for him.

"Really we want how he is behaving, how he has behaved all his life in Manchester but what is going to happen? This kind of things belongs to the club and the player."

The likes of Barcelona and Arsenal are believed to be monitoring Gundogan's situation, and the former are alleged to have already held talks with the player's agent.